I wish to bring to the public’s attention the fact that on a daily basis, the criminal justice system participates in a racket that infringes on the constitutional and human rights of citizens, and in so doing plays a major role in turning young men into criminals.
The single act of remanding citizens to HM Prison, until their trial, is disgraceful. In my view, prison is for convicted persons, pure and simple.
Why do we feel that it is the decent thing to build a $1million detention centre for illegal immigrants with modern amenities and confine innocent young men, citizens of this country, our own sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, to the disgusting and inhumane conditions of Fox Hill Prison. And that is what they are, innocent, until the courts find them guilty.
When these young men are remanded to prison, they are housed with convicted persons some of whom would have committed serious crimes or are otherwise career criminals. There “remand” conditions are very much the same as those already convicted, and in most cases after waiting years in some instances, if they are convicted, their sentences start from the day they were sentenced with no consideration being given to the time they spent in jail on “remand.”
For this system to work effectively, The Bahamas Bar Association must have turned a blind eye toward it or otherwise be in cohorts with the other branches of the criminal justice system. This will call into repute the independence and credibility of all lawyers practicing at the “criminal bar.”
Because the accused person is presumed to be innocent until such time as those who take him/her before the courts prove his/her guilt, it is simply incredible that these persons, having been denied bail or being unable to meet bail, will be sent to the prison to be watched over by prison guards! And to think this supposedly enlightened country allowed this practice to continue for so long.
I wish to suggest that the government give urgent consideration to not only building a remand centre in Grand Bahama, but one in New Providence as well. These centres should each have a magistrate court on site, as this will eliminate any danger associated with busing remanded persons through the streets of our cities. The conditions in these centres should be as close to those in the free world as security would allow.
Small wonder we have successive generations of young men who are bitter, angry and frustrated.
We have been reaping what we sowed.
By Jerry Roker
Letter To The Editor, The Nassau Guardian
