Experts renew calls for new prison

Prominent attorney-at-law Bert Samuels and security expert Robert Finzi-Smith have renewed calls for proper rehabilitation of inmates and an expansion of the island's penal institutions.

This is in response to the new sentencing regime that will be imposed on those convicted under the new Firearms Act, which could lead to more persons being incarcerated. Speaking with THE STAR on Wednesday, Samuels said Jamaica has not improved on the rehabilitation aspect of people going into prison.

"People should go to prison as punishment but not to be punished. They go there to be rehabilitated. We will see the result when it is too late when they come back out worse," Samuels said.

"There has been no expansion of the century-old penal institutions since the legislation has been passed," he added.

Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson, said that 63 men and seven women have been charged under the new Firearms Act between November 1 and December 20. The majority of those charged are between the age of 16 and 30. Penalties under the new Firearms Act range from 15 years to life imprisonment. Samuels added that the mandatory minimum 15-year sentence leaves the judges powerless.

"There should be a separation of powers in the Constitution. Here we have the legislator telling the judiciary what to do. It, in my view, encroaches on the separation of powers. The judges should never lose their discretion when it comes to sentencing. Circumstances alter cases," he said. Finzi-Smith said a new prison is long overdue.

"In fact, we were offered one but the current government who was in position at the time worked against it. And now the shoe is on the other foot. So it would be interesting to see what they think now. Any increase in apprehension and convictions will immediately put under stress the penal institutions."

Like Samuels, Finzi-Smith stated that the nation's penal institutions are not geared towards rehabilitation.

"If you see the conditions of some of them, you would understand. This is why we have so many repeat offenders, because they feel that society owes them because of what has happened to them while being incarcerated. Once we increase the inmates, then we are going to have a big problem. We could also be cited by international human rights people about the condition under which we keep human beings," Finzi-Smith said.