Educación
Minors Have Less Time for Education due to Shortage of Correctional Officers
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Minors in one of the two Social Treatment Centers of the Bureau of Juvenile Institutions (NIJ, in Spanish) must receive six hours a day of educational services, at least two hours of psychological services and meet with a social worker, according to an agreement between the US Department of Justice and the government of Puerto Rico. However, in 2021, the centers saw the departure of 36 correctional officers as the agency identified a need for 81 officers for fiscal year 2022. Classes are suspended whenever security staffing is insufficient to ensure the safety of teachers, minors and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) staff. The solution for these suspensions has been limited “too often” to leaving homework and printed materials in their housing modules without instructions from teachers, according to the most recent report by federal monitor Kimberly Tandy. The Department of Education (DE) has 41 teachers assigned to teach classes in juvenile correctional institutions.