PUBLIC DEFENDER Howard Hamilton, has received a list of 33 inmates of the Tower Street and St. Catherine Adult Correctional centres on whose behalf he plans to act as they seek recompense or rehabilitation in lieu of incarceration.
Twelve of the men had been languishing in prison at the Governor-General's pleasure for committing crimes when they were juveniles and 21 from both facilities need psychiatric help. These were deemed unfit to plead to their charges while the offenders who were detained at the Governor-General's pleasure were sentenced for committing capital murder as juveniles. The main feature of the sentence is that it has no definite period of incarceration attached to it.
The men who committed crimes when they were juvenies had served sentences between six and 25 years while those needing psychiatric care had been imprisoned for between two and 32 years.
Mr. Hamilton said yesterday that he received the list on Tuesday and has written to the Chief Justice and the president of the Court of Appeal indicating that the services of his office were available to the men. The office will provide any services needed to facilitate the expeditious hearing of the cases, and could, among other things, provide legal counsel for the men.
"The Chief Justice is to inform me of the procedures; the court will examine each case on its own merit to determine what the position is," Mr. Hamilton said. "It depends on the state of the persons being represented, but we'll be there for them as needed."
Mr. Hamilton wrote the acting Commissioner of Corrections, Earl Fearon, last month requesting a list of all the prisoners detained at the Governor-General's pleasure and pending psychiatric evaluation. This was after the United Kingdom-based Privy Council recently declared the detention of juveniles under the age of 18 at the Governor-General's pleasure, to be unconstitutional. The Privy Council said they should be detained at the court's pleasure instead.
The ruling has affected 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 who were unfit to plead to the charge because of mental problems. This means that the judiciary will now have responsibility for the monitoring of these offenders.
