Charles: Bill only changes location where shots called

NAPARIMA MP Rodney Charles said the Bail (Amendment) Bill will not prevent criminals from “calling shots” on people.

“We know shots are called from prison. All we are doing is changing the location from where shots are called.”

He was contributing to debate on the bill in the House yesterday.

He said the “responsible Opposition” has significant reservations about the bill in its current form and has circulated amendments, though he said given the Government’s approach, he was 100 per cent sure the amendments will not be entertained.

Charles said there is already a suite of draconian laws, but heavy penalties do not equate crime reduction. He pointed to 25-year and 30-year sentences under the Anti-Gang Act.

The Government has said the bill is important in the fight against crime, he said, but he questioned why it was not brought right after it was passed in the Senate in June. He speculated that the bill was brought in a special sitting as PR and for the Government to further the narrative that the Opposition was not supporting Government’s crime fight.

He said, however, that the Opposition will support it, subject to the circulated amendments.

The amendments include a one-year sunset clause and for Government to commit on giving information on the impact of legislation to address crime on a six-month basis.

Charles said the Government was clearly at sea when it came to fighting crime and was seeking to mamaguy people with bill.

“’Oh, we willing to come out while on holiday.’ Who are they fooling?”

He said instead of the Bail Bill, Government should have called out the Opposition to talk about helping at-risk males get employment and have a sense of belonging rather than getting involved with gang leaders; or improve the prison system, where prisoners were defecating in buckets and possibly being sodomised; or reduce the 77 per cent recidivism rate; or improve the legal aid department to help the “little ones.”

He said the US had the largest prison population in the world because of ill-conceived legislation like this bill and, while the US was seeking to reduce its prison population, this bill was seeking to put more people in prison.

He questioned how the Bail Bill would reduce the crime rate or gang activity and asked whether it will be reduced by ten per cent. He also called on the Government to provide statistics on the number of people who had been denied bail and were in prison. He stressed inefficiencies in the system needed to be addressed, such as issues at the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office and the courts.

“The passage of more and more laws will not solve the crime situation.”