Prime Minister, Perry Christie, Cynthia Pratt, Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Senator Bernard J.Nottage should as a matter of the most urgent priority look into what we understand are thoroughly horrid conditions in Her Majesty’s Prisons, Fox Hill.
As things now stand, those conditions stand in mockery and rebuke of words and phrases which talk about ‘people in the protective custody of the state’.
We are absolutely convinced that when matters arise involving the health of this nationﾒs people, the buck must stop with the prime minister. And so too, there must be a significant role in this matter for the minister charged with protecting this nationﾒs security systems.
In addition, it is also clear that with all the brave talk about ﾑswift justiceﾒ that there must be a significant role for the Minister of Justice.
As importantly, there is a large role to be played by the Minister of Health. As we see it, swift justice must be large enough and elastic enough in its conceptualization to comprehend those men and women who are locked up or so-called ﾑremandedﾒ pending trial and possible acquittal.
What makes this remand facility so terribly devilish is the fact that offences are being routinely committed against these people. Here the reference is to those unhealthy conditions under which they are held.
To our way of thinking, this punishment is both cruel and usual. But notwithstanding popular acceptance of this notion of cruelty as business as usual, we dare say that no civilized government should ever countenance such outrages against people who are said to be in the protective custody of the state.
Conditions at Fox Hill Prison have been described as being a “travesty of humanity.” Attorney Paul Moss Jr. made the charge Wednesday at a press conference just across the street from the institution. Moss, who visited a relative in the prison daily for a month, said that conditions at the prison are “degrading for officer and inmate alike.”
Mr. Moss is of the view that “the animals at the Humane Society live under far better conditions than the inmates at Fox Hill Prison,” he said. He claimed to have witnessed inmates carrying human waste from their prison cells in garbage bags and the same barrels used to cart out waste were also used to transport food to the inmates.
We are told that Attorney Moss fears that a prison that will unleash frustrated ex-convicts into the community perpetuates recidivism. It is to be noted that attorney Moss also claims that prison officers are very demoralized and that their jobs were hazardous to their health.
We agree with him.
Regrettably, in the custody of the state is often times little more than a euphemism for brutality, barbarism and impunity.
Sad to say, it is this abusive culture that stands as a monumental blot on this nationﾒs reputation at home and abroad.
And so it is today that we say that the ministers cited above must know that on any given day, scores of Bahamians ﾖmany of them young people- are hauled before the courts. They are brought to these places, courtesy the activities of any number of zealous, hardworking police officers and other officials with power to arrest and detain.
The same ministers must also know that there are today hundreds of these people who are now in so-called ﾑremandﾒ at Her Majestyﾒs Prisons, Fox Hill. That all of these people are to be ﾑpresumed innocentﾒ speaks another story as to what remand is all about.
One of their number, the Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson spoke truth when she noted that the Bible warns us that when “justice is not swift, wickedness grows in the hearts of men.”
We are certain that this minister would also appreciate the legal and moral import of the fact that there is no justice when some one in the protective custody of the state is exposed to hurt and harm.
This is that point where the wrong done approaches that realm where conditions and behavior are described as being ﾑegregiouslyﾒ wrong.
In the final analysis, then, and granted what we know about those horrid facilities, we call on prime minister Christie and his colleagues to do what is right and see to it that those men and women who are being held in the protective custody of the sate, are in truth and in fact protected and respected.
It is to be noted that some of these men and women are in fact innocent.
Abusing any one of them -including the guilty- is wrong
And for sure, punishing the innocent is always egregiously wrong.
This country should tolerate none of this outrage and abuse.
Editorial from The Bahama Journal
