The Editor, Sir:

An inmate at the May Pen Police Station lock-up allegedly threw urine at a policeman guarding the cell on the morning of June 8, 2007. The policeman reportedly responded by releasing a canister of tear gas and locking the cell door behind him. At least six inmates, one of them asthmatic, were subsequently hospitalised for tear-gas inhalation.

The policeman's action received the 100 per cent support of his commanding officer, who also stated that the alleged attacker had been transferred to another police station for his own protection.

The use of tear gas in war is prohibited under the Geneva Protocol, signed by 80 countries. Physicians for Social Responsibility have advocated banning the use of tear gas against civilians, even where responsible law enforcement officers may confine its use to dispersing unruly crowds or forcing barricaded criminals into the open.

Bystanders Suffer

Indiscriminate firing of tear-gas canisters often punishes innocent bystanders as well as the targeted persons. For example, when the police tear-gassed Mayor Desmond McKenzie and other Local Government representatives in November 2005, passing pedestrians and motorists were also affected. In the May Pen incident, 70 inmates were made to suffer for an offence allegedly committed by one person. Conceivably, the police needed no special skills to apprehend and discipline the offender. who was already in their custody.

The use of tear gas to punish inmates locked in a jail cell qualifies as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. The United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners prohibits, as punishment for disciplinary offences, actions that may be prejudicial to the physical health of an inmate. Amnesty International, in a 2004 release, stated, "Firing tear gas into a confined space is completely contrary to international human rights standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials because of the danger posed to those exposed."

Highly toxic chemical

Caution is required in the use of tear gas, as it is a highly toxic chemical. On contact, it immediately irritates the eye, nose, throat, heart, lungs and stomach. Long-term effects include convulsions, conjunctivitis, lung tumours, and liver and kidney damage. The least severe health effects are seen when people are exposed for a short time outdoors; the most severe health effects are seen where people are forced to breathe tear gas in a warm enclosed space where impact of the gas is undiluted. Intentional release of tear gas against confined persons, as in Nazi Germany's gas chambers, has been deemed to be barbarous.

The May Pen tear-gassing of inmates seems yet another example of the primacy of muscle power over brain power, and of collective punishment over selective investigation. Hopefully, police superiors will think again about their endorsement of this policeman's releasing chemical toxins on persons locked in a jail cell - inhuman treatment that is prohibited even against wartime enemies.

I am, etc.,

YVONNE McCALLA SOBERS

sobersy@yahoo.com