RENTAL DEAL!

ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016
EDITORIAL
By Publisher
JACK WARNER
We have to find a
common sense
approach in
dealing with reprisals to
policy decisions targeted
at those behind the prison
walls.
The emotional rhetoric
defining the killing of
young Fitzalbert Victor Jnr
as a war is just sensational
and instills an aura of fear
in the minds of his brothers
and sisters in the prisons
service.
What is worse is that after
having defined the killing
as part of a war, the
Commissioner of Prisons
proceeds to advise his subordinates
“not to be fearful.”
But the stark truth is that
if this is really a war, then
the men who signed up “to
treat and to hold” those
who run afoul of the law
are powerless to maintain a
stance of professionalism in
times such as these.
This conversation is
nothing new.
What seems to be the
only constant is the inability
of the authorities to devise a
plan that makes our prison
officers feel safe even when
they are off the job.
Previous governments
have tabled many ideas.
One such is the allocation
of HDC homes to law
enforcement officers.
The policy of 10 percent
is spread over all the agencies
including Fire officers
and at the rate at which
houses are being built, one
cannot offer any hope to the
officers under threat that
such a plan will ever come
to fruition in my lifetime or
theirs.
What is worse is that the
HDC homes to be allocated
are still among the general
public and so access to
these officers regardless of
where they are assigned is
just as easy as when they
live in at-risk communities.
Another idea is providing
firearms for off-duty prison
officers.
It’s time to deal with reprisals to policy decisions
WAR BEHIND
PRISON WALLS
Such an idea sounds good
but the effect inhibits when
one considers the criminal
mind.
In societies, which pursue
such a path the realities
present offer a more ominous
end than leaving these
officers unarmed. How can
we forget that a former
Commissioner of Prisons,
Michael Hercules, was
murdered by two young
men ( he ended up killing
one) and he was armed? Or
how can we forget the Prisons
Officer who was shot
with his own firearm on the
Quinem beach? Such cases
of Prison Officers being
shot with their own firearms
are too numerous to mention.
And, moreover, did
the late Prison officer Victor
not have a firearm under
his pillow we are told?
So the first point of note
is that officers are known
to have been killed while
in possession of their firearms,
which are then stolen
by their assailants.
The threat here, therefore,
is the possibility of
legal firearms being in the
hands of criminals.
Another threat is that
cowards would then pursue
softer targets such as
members of prison officers’
families which will put a
larger demographic at risk
and exacerbate the problem
at hand.
The third idea has to do
with the threat by the Prison
Officers Association to take
the Government to court
over its inability to protect
and assure the safety of officers
while on or off duty.
It will be interesting to
hear the debates on both
sides and to read the court’s
judgment on this matter because
any employee within
the public service can make
such a claim.
But that is another matter!
My own position is that
there needs to be a thorough
review of the penal system.
In the first place, we have
A new fearsome reality
reached this point because
rogue officers have been
allowed to compromise the
safety of the Prison Service
and the good officers have
kept silent for too long
so the chickens have now
come home to roost.
The perception is that the
killing may be materially
linked to the policy decision
to install telephone
jammers at the nation’s
prisons.
The question is how did
these phones get there in
the first place?
Civilians did not carry
them in and if the prisoners
sneaked them past the various
checkpoints then somebody
turned a blind eye or
offered a favour, which has
contributed to the problems
we are facing today.
So the first approach
must be the commitment
to tighter security measures
and an assurance by officers
to speak up and act against
errant officers within the
service.
The second is improving
the human rights conditions
which exist within the prison
walls.
The living conditions
there are deplorable and
the Minister of National
Security Edmund Dillon
needs to do more than being
alarmed when officers
are murdered and come up
with a way for prisoners to
be treated as human beings
even when incarcerated.
If you treat someone
like an animal they will
act as an animal towards
you and when one feels
that one has lost all reason
to live and has nothing to
lose, anything is possible.
Prisoners must never be
treated in a way that pushes
them to that point because
the actions that we will witness
would be unthinkable.
Thirdly, the judicial system
cannot continue to treat
with prisoners in the tardy
manner that has become the
norm.
A young man sentenced
National Security Minister
EDMUND DILLON
to six years in prison appealed
the judgment because
he maintained his innocence.
Unable to secure bail because
of his financial and
social standing he remained
seven years in jail for an
opportunity to plead his innocence.
The sad end to his
story is that he died behind
the prison walls waiting for
justice.
Can you imagine the
angst this has evoked in the
minds of close relatives?
Can you imagine the feelings
of reciprocity or conjure
up the images of whom
might be the possible target
for attack for the feelings
harboured?
Why in God’s name I
ask for the umpteenth time
can’t we complete an initiative
which, as a former
Golden Grove Prison...scene of trouble
Former CoP MICHAEL
HERCULES
Minister of National Security,
I had started to address?
And that is having a
court at the Golden Grove
Prisons!!!! I know why this
matter has been consistently
stalled but, in the end, we
shall pay a high price for
our recalcitrance.
Also, why don’t we have
night courts in an effort to
expedite the judicial process?
Why not?
We have to approach
this prison officer’s tragedy
with a level of common
sense that seeks to produce
a sustainable end rather
than emotive rhetoric that
dies 10 days after the burial
of the prison officer.
This calls for a multisectoral
approach to initiate
action if this debacle has to
be brought under control
Page 7
Murdered Prison Officer
FITZALBERT VICTOR
before being extirpated.
Most prisoners are citizens
of our country with
inalienable human rights by
virtue of their birthright.
Those in Remand Yard
are innocent until proven
guilty and if we are to effect
the change in the lives
of the men and women
accused of breaking the
law then we must treat
them as human and very
humane when we detain
them behind our prison
walls and this advice is
not an indictment of any
prison officer nor even the
prison service. It is an indictment
against our system
of justice.
So the answer is not easy
but we must make a determined
effort to work together
to get this right.
Let’s do it now.