ONLY ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW will be permitted to meet with inmates at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre along Spanish Town Road in Kingston over the next several days.
According to a release from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Headquarters yesterday, attorneys are expected to show professional identification and documentation which confirms that inmates have been formally retained. Their visits will be accommodated Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 to noon.
The JDF said the public should be reminded that the recent restrictions on visitation privileges were temporary measures and normal visitation privileges were expected to resume shortly. Clothing for inmates, however, can be delivered between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.
Meanwhile, since Monday, several visitors who turned up at the centre with clothing and other items for the inmates have been lamenting the denial of their visitation privileges by soldiers manning the institution.
"Dem sey dem nuh know when visiting will a go start again," said a young mother, who claimed she just wanted to pass on the information to her child's father that the baby was born.
An elderly woman, close to tears, explained her son was detained and scheduled for court on Monday, however, soldiers refused to take the suit of clothes she brought for him to wear to court. The woman lamented that she had travelled all the way from Morant Bay in St. Thomas.
The Government gave the army full responsibility of the remand centre following a series of violent incidents there.
Since last week, the soldiers have been reviewing the operation of the centre and the visitation process. Major G.S. Prendegast, Superintendent Norman Gordon of the Organised Crime Unit and retired Senior Superintendent Beresford Spence have been mandated to probe last week's escape of an inmate at the centre.
National Security Minister Peter Phillips had requested a detailed report of the incident within seven days. Up to press time yesterday, senior officers in the ministry were unable to confirm if the report had reached the Minister's desk.
The Gleaner understands that investigators are probing last week's escape to establish if it was a case of criminal negligence. If so, the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for him to rule on the matter.
Tightened security measures were implemented shortly after manslaughter accused Ricardo 'Godzilla' Lawrence escaped the new $400-million maximum security centre.
Lawrence, escaped just after 1:00 p.m. on July 7 after using sheets tied together to lower himself from the second floor of the remand centre. He and two other prisoners who were remanded in custody had forced their way through an opening in the steel bars of their cell, however, the others were prevented from escaping by warders on duty.
The Horizon Remand Centre was officially opened in November by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who said then that the problems of overcrowding and escapes from the island's penal institutions would be significantly reduced.
