From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Last year, the Tonga Prisons Department began sending children between 14-16 years old to ‘Atā, a small remote island, an hour by boat off the east coast of Tongatapu (not to be confused with ‘Ata Is. to the south).

Isolating inmates in this age bracket was a recommendation by Prisons to government, as a first step to segregating the children from older inmates, according to the Superintendent of Prisons, Moleni Taufa.

Since the operation began, there have been around 50 children on the island, a majority sentenced to six months for housebreaking, and one transferred earlier this year to the Fale’one Prison in Ha’apai. At the end of July there were eight children serving time on ‘Atā. They are supervised by a single jailer, with a two-week rotation, who brings food stocks to the island to supplement the diet of fish caught by the children, and root crops from a plantation they maintain themselves. Apart from learning new skills in fishing and farming, the children received no formal education, Moleni said.

No Visitors

They are not allowed visitors, but they are permitted to return to the main island of Tongatapu once a month, to attend church and to visit family. If a child should fall ill, he may be taken to the hospital on Tongatapu, but will be returned to ‘Atā immediately after treatment.

According to Moleni this may not be the best solution in separating the children from the adults, but it was certainly a first step.