Hamilton... wrote to Commissioner of Corrections.PUBLIC DEFENDER Howard Hamilton has requested a list of the names of all inmates of penal institutions detained at the Governor-General's pleasure.
Mr. Hamilton wrote the acting Commissioner of Corrections, Earl Fearon, yesterday to this effect.
His letter read: "With regard to the decision of the Privy Council, which has declared detention by the Governor-General of juveniles under the age of 18 to be unconstitutional, will you please supply me with a list of the names of all inmates currently held in the penal institutions in this category, as well as inmates of unsound mind who were unfit to plead to the charge."
The United Kingdom Privy Council on Wednesday handed down a landmark decision that it is unconstitutional to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure and that they should be detained at the court's pleasure, instead.
In handing down its decision, the Privy Council agreed with the majority decision of the Court of Appeal, handed down in May 2000, that it is only the court which has the power to impose sentences. The Privy Council also agreed with the Court of Appeal that to detain juveniles at the Governor-General's pleasure was a breach of the Constitution.
The ruling will affect all juveniles detained in Jamaica at the Governor-General's pleasure, because they were under the age of 18 when they were found guilty of murder, as well as persons of unsound mind who were unfit to plead to the charge.
The Privy Council said that "A person detained during the Governor-General's pleasure is deprived of his personal liberty not in execution of the sentence or order of a court but at the discretion of the executive. Such a person is not afforded a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court, because the sentencing of a criminal defendant is part of the hearing and in cases such as the present sentence is effectively passed by the executive and not by a court independent of the executive."
