From no bail to hell’s yard

It was remarkable that during the boisterous debate over the failed Anti-Gang (Amendment) Bill 2020, little or no mention was made, especially by the Opposition, about our bedevilled remand yard. That’s where those, still innocent before proven guilty, are put without bail, pending their trial. This bill called for a 30-month extension of the 120 days no-bail provision.

The Opposition UNC noted the bill is more oppressive than suppressive or a deterrent.

“Legal insanity,” declared UNC Saddam Hosein.

In last week’s column I expressed caution over government’s repeated proposals for increased no-bail detention, since “the Remand Yard remains unhealthy, congested and racially imbalanced.” Everybody has heard about remand yard unattended injustices. The highly comforted must now think about the lowly discomforted.

Justice Carol Gobin has bemoaned the inhumane conditions. In 2010, former inspector of prisons Daniel Khan reported on it.

After intensive on-site inquiry, a ten-member Cabinet-appointed committee in 2013 reported: “The dismal conditions experienced by the remand yard inmates and the prison officers themselves have been very clear to us. The grossly inadequate water and toilet facilities, no roof lights, poor ventilation, sweltering heat, cramped conditions and insufficient sleeping facilities all combined to create a climate of injustice and potential threats to safety.” (Report laid in Parliament.)

Is this the place we wish to send “persons charged without evidence” for up to 120 days without bail? And even so, when the trial does start, they, like so many other inmates, could end up with ten more years.

The committee, as “a matter of immediate and urgent necessity" called for building “a new remand facility for more suitable accommodation.”

The report, entitled Special Prisons Committee Proposals for Early Urgently-Needed Action, “noted with grave concern the plight of remanded inmates who wait very protracted periods to have their cases heard, ‘some for over ten years.’”

Among its 22 recommendations was one (a majority one) that “a formal enquiry be made into the reasons for the trial delays affecting inmates.”

Committee members were Justice Minister Emmanuel George, National Security Minister Gary Griffith, Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, Prisons Commissioner Martin Martinez, Prisons Inspector Daniel Khan, Attorney Wayne Sturge, Prison Service Association Secretary Gerard Gordon, Duane Murray (secretary) and Prof Ramesh Deosaran (chairman).

The UWI Faculty of Law Human Rights Clinic has now filed a European Union-partnered lawsuit against government to expedite trials and provide bail relief for persons on remand.

The dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, said “This is an ongoing travesty in our democracy where persons are charged and left to languish in jail, sometimes in inhumane conditions.” The connection between the Anti-Gang Bill and remand yard conditions cannot be ignored.

Meanwhile, during the debate, the Minister of National Security, Stuart Young, read proposals from a senior police officer to make the 120 days’ no-bail requirement “permanent.”

At the same time, both remand inmates and Maximum Security prisoners threaten to sue over poor remand conditions and health risks.

Prison Officers Association president Ceron Richards two weeks ago said “the prison service is on the brink of collapse.”

The Opposition has repeatedly said “no procurement legislation, no support for Anti-Gang Bill.” At the UNC Monday night forum two weeks ago, Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared: “We say today and we repeat, no support for Anti-Gang Bill, if you don’t bring the procurement legislation. We will isolate you.”

Does this mean if government brings the procurement legislation the UNC will support the Anti-Gang Bill?

What about the animated attacks during the debate on Mr Young, AG Faris Al-Rawi and the Anti-Gang Bill itself by UNC MPs Rodney Charles, Saddam Hosein, Dinesh Rambally and Dr Roodal Moonilal?

"This bill not good at all," was their collective outcry.

Hosein said the statistics showed the anti-gang law has not been effective in reducing murders. He added: “In 2018, when the anti-gang law was passed, there were 517 murders, but in 2019 there were 536 murders – the second highest in the country’s history.” He said “in 2017 there were 495 murders and in 2016 there were 462, so the statistics show without the anti-gang law, the murder rate was lower.”

Has the UNC gone too far to turn back now? Or will it retreat to Dr Moonilal’s compromise with a “review” of the government’s bill? What about the 120 days’ no bail in hell’s yard?