A grave security risk
published: Wednesday | September 3, 2003
MAJOR RICHARD Reese, recently-appointed head of the correctional service, has drawn public attention to the overcrowding in Jamaica's prisons, now with a population of 4,100 inmates in facilities designed for 2,700. What is worse, the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, which was designed to hold 650 persons, now houses 1,741 inmates, nearly three times more than it should. The situation, we suspect, is equally critical in police station remand centres. With crime continuing on the rampage, the nation will shortly face another emergency in dealing with convicted felons. In America, the ratio of prison inmates to 100,000 of general population is 244, compared with a ratio of 148 in Jamaica but the facilities in the United States are more numerous and many times the size of ours.
Overcrowded prisons present a grave security risk as witness the recent escape from the Denham Town Remand Centre of three dangerous criminals, just one in a series of breakouts from prisons and remand centres that over the years have been an embarrassment to the police and prison authorities and a source of anxiety for citizens. Government, recognising the gravity of the problem, has announced plans to build a new modern prison but so far has been unable to come up with the finance for its construction. The hope had been that private sector funds could be sourced for the capital costs involved.
Attempts have been made to mitigate the overcrowding problem by a policy of early release of prisoners being held for minor offences to make space for prisoners convicted of serious crimes. We agree with this policy, especially when it is applied to inmates incarcerated for smoking ganja or in possession of a few spliffs. But this early release policy or less custodial sentencing can only be taken so far. Eventually we will run out of prison space for hardcore prisoners who, in overcrowded cells, know how to break out almost at will. This situation is compounded by the present uneasy relationship with prison warders resulting from Government's justified attempt to deal with corruption in the service but which was so heavy handed it probably did as much harm as good.
Major Reese has a major challenge on his hands and we urge Government to give him the reasonable resources he needs to get the job done.
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