Close the Remand Yard immediately! This is but one of the recommendations that will be presented to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at 3 pm today by the special nine-member committee headed by Prof Ramesh Deosaran to look into the conditions at the nation’s prisons.
Speaking with members of the media outside the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca yesterday, after a seven-hour tour of the three prisons at Golden Grove, which consists of Remand Yard, MSP and Golden Grove prison, Deosaran admitted to being traumatised after the visit of his team. He said he was not only shocked, surprised and angry at what he saw, but was also saddened.
In fact, Deosaran admitted to being at a loss for words to explain how the committee would be able to report on what they saw in a manner which would be tactful for the PM. “I don't know how I could express the recommendations tomorrow (today) in a language that will not be disrespectful but diplomatic,” he said. He said it is a very ugly situation at Remand Yard and suggested that magistrates and judges “who have something to do with this by trial delays” should visit and see for themselves the conditions.
“I am sure when we give her the recommendations and we express the level of urgency, and in my particular case, the sadness that I experienced seeing what these young men would undergo (while on remand), something would be done,” he said
Asked what impacted him the most, Deosaran said the despair on the faces of the prisoners during their visit. “The word inhumane is really too mild to describe what we have seen,” he said.
“I am worried when they come out from such an experience what sort of citizen would they be. What scared me was the look on their faces.” A criminologist by profession, Deosaran said in 2003 he and a student also did a report and made some suggestions concerning the conditions of the Remand Yard, adding he was “at a loss to tell you what I have seen.”
Deosaran said the PM was expecting the team to present some very concrete actionable programmes for the prison system, after she expressed strong feelings that something has to be done in the prisons. He added that he was banking on the PM’s pledge that something would be done and was hopeful that the situation would not be politicised.
Deosaran said after what he had witnessed, he was certain the people on remand are a special breed, “since they are faced with this uncertainty and there are some who have been here for 12 to 13 years, which paints a horrible picture for democracy of Trinidad and Tobago.” He also called on the media to be vigilant in reporting on the issues, since journalists report on wars. He labelled the condition in the prisons a “war against humanity in Trinidad and Tobago.”
The committee, he said, was to pull an all-nighter last evening, in order to deliver the report to the PM by 3 pm today. The shooting death of off-duty prison officer Andy Rogers on November 7 started a chain of events which led to the formation of the committee. Rogers’ colleagues staged a protest which led to prisoners rioting at Arouca facility, leading Persad-Bissessar to name the committee to resolve the problem.
Conditions at the prison
1. More than 1,400 prisoners
2. Most of the men are under 30
3. Eight to 13 people in a cell
4. Eight feet by 12 feet cells
5. Makeshift hammocks made of towels to sleep
6. Pails used as toilets
7. No running water
8. Bottled water given to each cell for hygienic and other purposes
9. Unsanitary conditions
Special Prisons Committee Members:
Prof Ramesh Deosaran—chairman; Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez; Inspector of Prisons Daniel Khan; Minister of National Security Gary Griffith; Minister of Justice Emmanuel George; Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams; attorney Wayne Sturge; Prison Officers’ Association general secretary Gerard Gordon.
Conditions at the prison
1. More than 1,400 prisoners
2. Most of the men are under 30
3. Eight to 13 people in a cell
4. Eight feet by 12 feet cells
5. Makeshift hammocks made of towels to sleep
6. Pails used as toilets
7. No running water
8. Bottled water given to each cell for hygienic and other purposes
9. Unsanitary conditions
Prof Ramesh Deosaran—chairman; Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez; Inspector of Prisons Daniel Khan; Minister of National Security Gary Griffith; Minister of Justice Emmanuel George; Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams; attorney Wayne Sturge; Prison Officers’ Association general secretary Gerard Gordon.