Attorney concerned about persons in lockups

Veteran criminal attorney Christopher Townsend has expressed concern for persons in lockups, following the case of Tevin Foster, who spent nearly three years in custody before falling ill and dying while detained at the Hunts Bay Police Station.

Townsend insisted that the tragedy exposes a deeper systemic failure rooted in Jamaica's Gun Court bail regime and the conditions under which unconvicted detainees are held.

"In terms of humanitarian grounds, of course bail should be granted. We have inhumane conditions that they keep innocent people in. People forget that you are innocent until proven guilty, so the fact is that all of these people [who] are in custody are innocent by way of law. In reality, they may not be. But the law says that they're innocent," he said.

Townsend said the refusal to grant bail in gun-related matters has become almost automatic, regardless of individual circumstances. He called for the use of ankle monitors to monitor those out on bail.

"We don't have to have people reporting to police station. We track them whilst they continue to work and provide for their families," he said. "It (the use of monitors) could also be a serious intelligence-gathering device. But we don't want to use it. It has been tested and proven in other countries, we just lack the will to implement it."

Kevin Foster, Tevin's father, said his son was unwell for two of the three years he was jailed. Foster said he repeatedly raised concerns about his son's health, only to be met with resistance.

"Mi go visit him all the while and a ask bout him. Even one time the police dem nearly lock me up. Mi nearly ketch trouble by asking about him because [of] how him contact me and that it illegal. All that time him sick and them nah tell me," he said. As his son's condition worsened, Foster opined that basic care was absent.

"Him get so bad him couldn't eat or drink, him dry out. At one point, him call and say a water alone him want because him can't eat or drink." While careful not to excuse wrongdoing, Foster said the system failed his son.

"Mi nah pick up fi mi son inna whatever him get caught up inna. But me know him neva have no gun. If you deh round bad company, you ago likely fi pick up trouble. But him did so young. Him facing the law shoulda be a turnaround fi him but instead him dead in deh."

"There is no words to explain how it feels to lose my only son. Mi feel like mi lose mi future because a him shoulda come take care a me when me old," he added. Foster described his son as skilled and industrious.

"Tevin could do so many things. He was a engineer, him coulda do mason work, carpentry, electrical, steel work and plumbing. Him did have him whole future ahead a him," he lamented.

"No money or pleasure compare to mi son. Half a me come like it dead. Mi want justice and mi a sue!"

Attorney Donahue Martin, who was representing Tevin, confirmed that the matter remains before the Gun Court because of a co-accused still being in custody. He stressed that custody carries clear responsibilities.

"If you are in charge of a lockup, you are the custodian of the person who you have in your custody. If it is that there is a challenge, they are to be brought for the relevant assistance as soon as possible, and as soon as practicable."

Martin said attention must now turn to detention conditions and medical protocols.

"What they should point a spotlight on is the facilities in which persons are kept in custody, the issues there, how it is that they are treated, and the procedures in relation to persons who are ill whilst in custody."

Martin confirmed that the family is pursuing the matter and that the Independent Commission of Investigations is probing the circumstances.