ACHIEVEMENTS

Some human rights work and activities done by the svghra during the past ten years.

PRISONS AND PENAL REFORM

The one and only prison for men in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is situated in the centre of the capital, Kingstown. There have been several prison revolts and escapes there over the last two to three years. This prison was built in 1875 to house 75 inmates. At the end of September, 2001 it contained 281 inmates. A small extension was built in the prison yard to alleviate the over-crowding. It simply left the space in the prison yard for exercise smaller, without reaching any way near to removing the over-crowding.

Inmates have been rebelling off and on over a period of three years. They complained of the brutality of the prison guards, the low quality of the food, no television, to be locked down from 2.30 p.m. until 7 a.m. next morning.

The Prison Authorities made some concessions on shortening the time of the prisoners lock-down and they placed a television set in the facility. But many problems still exist. At least 75 inmates still sleep on the floor, three-quarters of them have no work to do except to loiter in the prison yard. There is a carpenter’s shop and a bakery but those facilities employ a small minority of the inmates.

Dissatisfied with the circumstances of their detention the inmates stage frequent violent rebellions. Some prison guards were injured and the Prison Superintendent was very badly stabbed and was hospitalized for weeks. There was also prisoner on prisoner violence and at lease three prisoners were murdered and several were injured. This resulted from the gang fights in the facility.

There have been several Commissions of Inquiry into this prison over the past 40 years. The last one was in 1999. The one just before that in 1999 was in 1972. In these later Inquiries the Commissioners recommended, inter alia, that a new prison facility be built outside of the capital Kingstown and that the prison guards or prison officers be properly trained. They strongly recommended that the new prison should be built on enough land where extensive farming should be done to employ a large portion of the inmates.

Of paramount importance is the fact that the prison has been run on the basis of repression of the inmates, added to awful inhuman conditions. We in the SVGHRA believe that what is needed to reverse that policy of repression and replace it with one of rehabilitation.

We are also of the view that too many persons are sent to prison for relatively minor offences. It is clear that a system of Alternative sentencing is necessary, for example, Community Service Orders, Suspended Sentences, along with the implementation of a Parole system to reward inmates who are deserving of early release.

The SVGHRA participated as a resource organization in a one day training effort for prison officers in August, 2001. Much work is needed on the whole question of penal reform and alternative sentencing.

There is also a prison for women which is in a building which was an old fortress on a high hill overlooking the sea and capital, Kingstown. It is very remote and inaccessible to families who wish to visit family and friends there. It is very unsuited for a prison. The Commissioners have recommended that women prisoners be detained elsewhere.

With regards to the brutality of some of the prison officers (sometimes called prison guards) The SVGHRA’s President in his professional capacity took the Superintendent of Prisons and the Attorney General to Court on a Constitutional Motion for the infliction of punishment by the Superintendent of Prisons with a cat-o-nine tails whip on the naked back of an inmate.

The Court declared this amounted to torture and that it was unconstitutional. The Court also held :

• That cellular solitary confinement of the inmate by the Superintendent of Prisons from August 26, 1996 to July 1997 - just under one year and without a break - amounted to inhuman and degrading punishment.
• The keeping of the inmate in iron-clad foot leggings and handcuffs from August 26, 1996 until the month of February 1997 and with which the Inmate had to eat and sleep with those shackles on his person, amounted to torture.

The Court also held that the cat-o-nine tails whip was not an instrument legalized in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the punishment of prison inmates:

The case mentioned above is:

The case is mentioned to show the nature of the repression that was taking place in the Kingstown Male Prison. It was not surprising that the inmates eventually reacted and rose up and rioted against such treatment. This single case example, explains why there is a need for a change of penal policy from repression to reformation and rehabilitation.

The prison service is the third part of the administration of justice. The police service is the first part and the Law Courts the second part. When the police and the prisons are not functioning properly and within their legal parameters the Rule of Law and Justice administered in the Courts is compromised, the citizens of the country suffer.