Top government and judiciary officials yesterday met to discuss ways to ease overcrowding in the prisons and said the measures will be fleshed out over the next two weeks before being implemented.
“What we did was to identify measures by which the judiciary’s work, particularly at the magisterial level can impact in a way that brings about some relief particularly to the problem of overcrowding in the prisons,” Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh told reporters shortly after the two-hour meeting had ended.
The meeting was held on the instructions of President David Granger following the deadly riot at the Georgetown Prison on March 3 which left 17 prisoners dead and several others nursing various degrees of injury. Prisoners, during a meeting with government ministers the day after the incident, complained bitterly about the length of time they were incarcerated awaiting the start of their trial.
One of the men who died had been behind bars for eight years still awaiting trial for the offence of murder. The case was set for trial in 2014 but was aborted. A new date had not been set when the riot occurred.
The prisoners were assured that their concerns about their lengthy prison stays will be addressed.
Yesterday’s meeting was held in the conference room at the Court of Appeal on High Street. Justice Singh led the judiciary team which included Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack and Acting Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo headed government’s delegation which also included Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Basil Williams.
Justice Singh told reporters that the meeting largely focused on the work of the courts and how it impacts on the situation in the prison. He said the two teams will “flesh out” those plans over the next fortnight before they are put into meaningful operation. Asked about some of the measures being looked at, Justice Singh opted not to provide that information. “It might be a little precipitative,” he said.
Meantime, Nagamootoo emphasised that the meeting was a success. “From the point of view at this time…it was a very successful meeting. The government team…is very pleased that this meeting has shown a resolve to deal with some of the issues confronting our prison system and the justice system,” he asserted.
He explained that the meeting was held largely in part to deal with the issue of overcrowding in the prisons and the government was able to agree with the judiciary on a number of initiatives that would have been proposed to ease overcrowding and accelerating trials.
“So it was a wide ranging discussion all aimed at this point in time at trying to get trials speedily and to clear the congestion in the prison,” he said. He added that in time, a “full” release on the outcome of the meeting will be issued but emphasised that the judiciary is on board.
“The Chancellor, I think I would be correct to cite him that he is very committed to helping and paving the way to deal with some of the problems in the prison system,” the Prime Minister said.
Questioned on specifics as it relates to what the Chancellor has committed to doing, Nagamootoo said he would prefer that the information comes from the Chancellor but assured that a statement on some of the measures that the two sides have agreed on, will be issued.
He said there will be follow up meetings after the exchange of information which includes an inventory of how many persons are affected by the overcrowding situation and how the judiciary can help. Nagamootoo related that there are some preliminary mechanisms which will first have to be put in place to allow for forward movement.
“For me it is good news. This meeting was basically good news that the judiciary is basically on board and in fact it was the desire of the Chancellor that we should have this meeting between the judiciary and the executive,” he said.
Justice Singh, prior to the meeting, had said he and his team sees it as “identifying the ways in which the work of the courts impacts upon the situation and the circumstances in the prisons and how prison operations and prison life could be affected by what we do in the court.”
He told the media that they plan to seize on the opportunity to identify issues that touch upon those matters and if they are problematic, how they can be resolved.
