Stand Up for Jamaica backs construction of maximum security prison

By Nakinskie Robinson 

  

Executive Director of Stand Up for Jamaica, Carla Gullota is expressing support for the construction of a maximum security prison.

 

She was responding to an announcement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday that plans were in the pipeline for a new high security prison.

 

He was responding to a question from the media in relation to information that people behind bars were among the masterminds behind Sunday's gun attack at Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, which left eight people dead and others wounded.

 

Ms. Gullota said there are other factors, such as overcrowding, that should be considered in support of a new maximum security facility. 

 

Citing the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, she noted that the facility was built for 800 inmates but now has "1,700 or more". 

 

"That means that people there do not have not even the space to lie down in a cell. I think people don't have sympathy for people which are in conflict with the law. But there are some minimum standards which should be respected," she asserted while speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda, on Power 106FM. 

 

In March, National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang revealed that his ministry was working to construct a facility that will block prisoners from communicating with those on the outside via cell phones.

 

He said priority would be given to building two new facilities that will house inmates from the rundown Tower Street and St. Catherine adult correctional facilities.

 

Dr. Chang also indicated that another maximum security facility would be constructed and used to isolate some of the most dangerous criminals in an effort to reduce prohibited cell phone calls which have been linked to contract-style killings.

 

Ms. Gullota has argued that the existing infrastructure is inadequate, adding that there is a need for modern correctional facilities that prioritise the reintegration of inmates back into society. 

 

"One of the main keys of rehabilitation is education, so we have schools and we've partnered with DCS (Department of Correctional Services) to provide teachers, books, etc. But the infrastructure can contain maximum 200 people in a population of 1,700. So what happens to the other 1,500? They're not allowed, even if they wish to try to become more. So a new prison should be the possibility for a different approach to those which are incarcerated," she suggested.