Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

Commissioner of Corrections Major Richard Reese (left) in discussion with Superintendent Sylvester Lindo (centre), who is in charge of the St. Catherine District Prison. Looking on is Dr. Marjorie Vassell (right), prison doctor. The occasion was a tour of the refurbished psychiatric wing of the prison in May this year. – File

In a bid to reduce physical abuse and murders in the nation's penal institutions, the Department of Correctional Services has segregated homosexual inmates from the heterosexual population.

Inmates with communicable diseases and other vulnerable groups like persons who are mentally ill are also isolated from the general prison population.

Major Richard Reese, head of the Department of Correctional Services, which manages the daily operations of the island's penal institutions, told The Sunday Gleaner that inmates are not forced to reveal their sexual orientation. They voluntarily give the information at reception, he said, and suggested that news of a person's sexual orientation would probably reach before the individual arrives or shortly thereafter.

An inmate's failure to state that he is gay, could lead to his funeral, Major Reese warned.

"A person just simply says to another group of inmates, 'John is so and so' and that's it."

A SAFER PLACE

But he stressed that the prisons have been a safer place since the implementation of the programme of separation.

While conceding that human rights activists might scream discrimination, Major Reese, who has been at the helm of the Correctional Services for almost four years, regards the action of his administration as "prudent" inmate management that has successfully reduced the number of fatalities and injuries among the incarcerated. He stressed that matters of a sexual nature are volatile issues in the prison system and have started many fights.

Statistics from the Department of Correctional Services show that while 29 inmates were killed in 1997, only eight died of unnatural causes last year. So far this year, five inmates have been killed.

Additionally, violent incidents are also on the decline. In the year 2000, 153 violent incidents were recorded, while 92 incidents were recorded last year. However, 2005 recorded almost twice as many as 2004.

"We have not had anybody who is segregated harmed by persons on the basis of their sexual orientation," Major Reese said. "You could treat that as 100 per cent success," he boasted. "We don't operate on the premise of stigmatising people, we are guided by practical principles."

An unapologetic Major Reese insisted that the number of murders stemming from an inmate's sexual orientation or an unwelcome sexual advance is evidence enough that the programme of segregation is warranted.

TRYING TO PROTECT LIFE

Monsignor Richard Albert, Episcopal Vicar of St. Catherine, is supporting the decision to separate the homosexuals from the heterosexuals. "I think they are trying to protect life and life is sacred," he argued.

Monsignor Albert, who is also chairman of the Crime Prevention Committee in St. Catherine, said he did not view the programme as encouraging or condoning homosexuality.

"From my understanding, this has been a long-standing practice. I think for the safety of the inmates they have to do it," he said.

Dr. Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the human rights lobby group, Jamaicans For Justice, also had no qualms about the separation. She argued that as long as the homosexual inmates are accorded the same privileges as the heterosexual inmates, then there would be no violation of human rights.

However, she cautioned the Major Reese-led administration against believing that the segregation solves the problems of buggery behind bars. "As long as we are not looking for it to solve the problem of rape and homosexuality in the prisons because those who are doing the rapes are those who do not declare themselves as homosexuals," stressed Dr. Gomes.

At the same time, fearing stigmatisation of the institutions' inmates and employees, Major Reese refused to disclose which of the correctional facilities are currently practising the regime. However, he acknowledged that not all the correctional facilities have introduced the programme.