Jacob: Skilled, innocent people spend years in remand

AWARD-WINNING journalist and Newsday columnist Debbie Jacob said she has met skilled people who served years in Remand Yard and were eventually found innocent.

She was speaking on Thursday night at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine Faculty of Law panel discussion mindset change and crime prevention: how seeing the other can reduce crime and ignite economic growth, at the Noor Hassanali Auditorium, UWI.

She said skill-based training is one of the top requests she has received in her time volunteering as a teacher in Remand Yard. She recalled a number of highly intelligent and highly skilled individuals who spent years in remand, only to be found not guilty. She lamented that these men feel they have no voice.

Jacob said many sentenced individuals wanting to appeal a ruling have been told if they go that route they may have to wait even longer than if they chose to serve the sentence.

Social worker and activist Gregory Sloane-Seale in his presentation said: "We have to forge a new tomorrow where we can build relationships that are based on trust, mutual respect and understanding."