Hundreds of prisoners could be released

Prison Officers Association president Ceron Richards. -
Prison Officers Association president Ceron Richards. -

Prison Officers Association (POA) head Ceron Richards gave his full backing on Wednesday to the Prime Minister’s call earlier for some low-level prison inmates to be released to reduce prison overcrowding during this covid19 pandemic.

Dr Rowley told a briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s that some non-violent inmates in remand or on appeal, who pose no risk to society, will be released to alleviate prison conditions and lessen chances of any spread of the virus within the prisons.

In a telephone interview with Newsday, Richards sympathised with non-violent inmates awaiting trial, and convicts who have served half their sentence. “We are on the same page as the Prime Minister. We agree with him, we sub-categorise what we are looking at, in terms of releasing.”

He urged a prompt execution of moves to release those selected inmates. “Our remands are overburdened. We wouldn’t want a scenario where we have to have to deal with an overcrowded situation in the face of this pandemic. God forbid, if a situation happens, a lot of inmates could be vulnerable to this disease. So we are asking for a reduction of the overcrowding of the prison population.”

He said inmates on remand for minor non-violent offenders should be given reduced bail. “We are also asking Government to look at convicted non-violent inmates who have demonstrated by way of their good conduct and industry, having embraced the rehabilitative process, be released after serving half their sentence.

“We are also looking at the lifers, persons spending life in prison. Those lifers are our oldest and most vulnerable inmates to covid19, known to be more detrimental to senior citizens. Many have pre-existing medical conditions as well. So we’d be proposing that such inmates who have sentences of 25 years and above and who have been consistently demonstrating good behaviour and having demonstrated principles of restorative justice be released.”

Richards expected the Prisons Commissioner to address the issue publicly. Saying the proposals must be made a reality as soon as possible, Richards said the POA was happy the PM was on the same page as them on the need to reduce the prison population. “We were elated by his address.”

Asked how many inmates could be freed, Richards did not have a figure, but said, “I anticipate it could likely be a few hundred.”

Asked if freed inmates would need to be assisted/monitored in some way, Richards said Parliament and the President have respectively passed and proclaimed legislation to approve the electronic monitoring of such inmates, but these devices are not yet in place.

Comments

"Hundreds of prisoners could be released"

More in this section