This was stated by Amnesty International today, as it published a new report highlighting conditions in detention in the country.
“One in every 200 Bahamians is in prison and the rate of imprisonment in The Bahamas, at 478 per 100,000, is the 8th highest in the world” Amnesty International continued. “Prison overcrowding is just one of the issues the authorities must address immediately.”
Amnesty International welcomed the government’s response to its report, “Forgotten Detainees? Human Rights in Detention in the Bahamas”, which documents findings and makes key recommendations regarding conditions of detention in police, prison or immigration custody.
The report by the international human rights watchdog follows a research mission to the Bahamas in August 2002 and ongoing monitoring since that date, according to a release for the organization.
The delegation visited Her Majesy’s Prison, seven police stations and the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.
The organization found major breaches of the Bahamas’ obligations under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and other international human rights treaties, with the systematic denial of the rights of children in detention a major concern.
“At the Carmichael Immigrant Detention Centre child immigration detainees are often arbitrarily detained for long periods of time – months or even years” Amnesty International said. “They receive no education, no exercise and are denied adequate contact with family. At Fox Hill, the island’s main prison, children are detained alongside adults in conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, some on charges as minor as vagrancy.”
The report notes however that the government and civil society have acknowledged the problems that exist in The Bahamas for prisoners detained at Fox Hill and made serious efforts to embark upon a programme of improvement.
The report also features the case of Kazimierz Kwasiborski, an untried prisoner who died in Fox Hill on 28 August 2002, after reportedly being left alone in a cell by guards without medical attention having suffered an asthma attack.
“It is critically important to build on human rights related reforms already initiated,” Amnesty International said. “Simple actions in the Kwasiborski case – provision of a medical inhaler, earlier, may have meant the difference between life and death.”
“An adequate prison healthcare system will benefit not just prisoners, but staff and the wider community also,” Amnesty International stressed.”
Amnesty International concludes that urgent action is still needed to end arbitrary detention for immigration detainees, improve conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, investigate reports of ill-treatment and torture and better protect the rights of asylum-seekers, migrants and other prisoners, especially children.
“Tackling issues such as gross overcrowding is not just about providing a minimum level of decency for some of society’s most marginalized individuals,” the organization said.
“Reform will impact upon the ability of the criminal justice system to convict and rehabilitate the guilty and acquit the innocent. The cost of reform pales in comparison to the costs of inaction for society,” Amnesty International concluded.
The Bahama Journal
