One day after being found “jointly responsible” for the January 17 murder of Corporal Dion Bowles, three former prison escapees appeared before Coroner Linda Virgill Wednesday morning to be advised of the jury’s findings in the proceedings.
The plan was also to have the inmates remanded as a result of that decision. The remanding of the prisoners ﾖ who are already convicts ﾖ would be a formality in the process.
But Coroner Virgill delayed that formality after learning that attorneys for prison officer Sandy Mackey secured a stay of execution in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, shortly after their client was found responsible for the murder of inmate Neil Brown.
According to at least two witnesses, Mackey fatally shot Brown after the inmate was placed on the prison bus following his recapture in the Yamacraw Road area.
Mackey was expected to return before the coronerﾒs court on Wednesday to be issued a warrant for his remand to prison.
But Justice Jon Isaacs granted a stay of execution until Friday, May 26, leaving Officer Mackey free to go until then.
Next week Friday, the Attorney Generalﾒs office will say whether it objects to a further stay.
Mackeyﾒs attorneys insist that his constitutional rights were violated during the proceedings.
But Coroner Virgill insisted that she was not officially informed of that development.
She said as the jury found both the inmates and Mackey responsible for deaths, it would be unfair to deal with one matter and not the other.
“Nothing has come to me in writingﾅI am not going to remand you until such time as we know what is happening in that other matter,” the coroner said.
“The inquest involved the deaths of both Corporal Dion Bowles and Neil Brown and if one party took the matter to the Supreme Court, I will wait to hear the outcome, bearing in mind that these men do not have lawyers and justice is for all.”
However, Bowe, Parcoi and Hepburn are still being held in prison.
But before being escorted out of coronerﾒs court, the inmates, shackled and handcuffed and heavily guarded by officers, one by one told of how they had activated a protest of their own.
Hepburn told the court that as of Sunday past, he has been on a hunger strike as he was being denied his constitutional rights.
“I am not exercising. I have refused food and water and I am not receiving visitors. I am willing to die if I donﾒt get these things. I am willing to die for my cause,” Hepburn said.
He insisted that while he would not escape prison anymore, prisoners are being wrongly treated.
“This matter needs to be checked out forthwith. There is no ventilation in the cells and I am asthmatic,” Hepburn said.
Bowe, who had refused the opportunity to testify during the proceedings, agreed, as did Parcoi.
According to both men, officials have placed them in cells without ventilation, roaches crawl over their bodies and they have trouble receiving basic necessities like drinking water.
“Our people canﾒt purchase anything for us. They are not treating us how we are supposed to be treated,” Bowe said as his brother Greg and others in the gallery looked on.
“ﾅI take it upon myself to join Hepburn and Parcoi on a hunger strike. For some reason, no one on death row could see their attorneys. And when the authorities hear about our hunger strike, they would only say, ﾑDonﾒt worry about them.ﾒ These are the same officers that have oppressed us from the very beginning.”
After delivering the verdicts on Tuesday, jurors also recommended that prisoners at Her Majestyﾒs Prison be treated humanely and receive medical attention when requested.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
