Q: And what do you mean by the evening gathering... and how do the juveniles spend it?
A: The evening gathering is mostly spent in listening to Radio Lebanon, in the showing of films on some occasions, and in scouting games.
Q: Do you use severity with the juveniles if they commit infractions within the reformatory?
A: We keep far from all violence and constraint upon the juveniles, and follow with them the method of gentleness, persuasion, and the winning of confidence... This, in our view, is the most successful method.
Q: If a juvenile escapes, how do you bring him back?
A: Sometimes he returns by himself, or his family brings him back, or the security men do.
Q: And what is his punishment in case of escape?
A: The court sentences him to half his term of confinement in the reformatory — that is, if he was sentenced to two years, it becomes three years.
Q: If the juvenile reaches the legal age for remaining in the reformatory without having finished the term of his sentence, do you send him to the general prison to serve the rest of his sentence?
A: No. In cases like these we used to keep the juvenile in the reformatory even past the legal age; but we have now taken to releasing him from it, in accordance with what is laid down in the penal code: "Whoever has completed the twelfth year of his age and has not completed the fifteenth shall be subjected to the disciplinary measures provided in Article 120 until he reaches the eighteenth year of his age."
We relied on the phrase (until he reaches the eighteenth year of his age) and obtained a decision to
release the juvenile once he passes that age.
Q: Does the juvenile receive a wage for the goods he produces in the reformatory?
A: No, because everything the juvenile produces he himself consumes — that is, if he makes a pair of shoes, he himself wears them.
Q: And if the juvenile leaves the reformatory, do you commend him to further care?
A: Of course. We apply to the Union for the Protection of Juveniles on his behalf, and we likewise apply to the appropriate women's associations.
And there are four delegates for juveniles distributed in the North, Mount Lebanon, Sidon, and the Bekaa, who attend to juveniles' affairs as well.
Q: Is there a reformatory for girls too?
A: No, there is no government reformatory for girls; the Christian girls among them are sent to the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Dekwaneh.
Q: And how many employees has your reformatory?
A: We are thirteen employees... myself, in my capacity as director of the reformatory; Mr. Antoine Zwayel, keeper of the stores; Mr. Elias Zgheib, supervisor; four instructors for the trades and an instructor of physical training; a class teacher; two other supervisors; and two servants.
Q: We have learned that you held an athletic festival for the juveniles; may we know something about it?
A: Yes, the reformatory held, for the first time, a festival of athletic games on the sixteenth of last September, under the patronage of the Minister of National Education and Fine Arts, His Excellency Emile Bey Houd. This
festival was organized by a special committee made up of the Misses and Messrs. Joseph Khoury, Layla Houd, Layla Halihel, Da'd Khoury, Raymond Hashem, and Elias Zgheib. And we shall hold festivals like it every year.
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This is a rapid picture of an important social institution in Lebanese life. This institution rests in its work on the basis of freedom for the juvenile, together with watchfulness over him. I saw a juvenile returning from his home to the reformatory by himself, and I saw the juveniles ranging and frolicking inside it and outside it; and the juveniles there look upon the director and his colleagues as sons look upon fathers.
A social institution such as this is worthy of care and attention.
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