Getting Lost In Jamaica’s Prison System

Deemed unfit to plea and imprisoned for years without trial – the reality of Jamaica’s justice system – brought to light by an INDECOM report. 81 year old Noel Chambers- a victim of this system- suffered for forty years, although deemed competent to stand trial but died before justice could be served. He was lost in the system. His story has highlighted concerns about inefficiencies in the justice and security ministries, and questions about prisoners who are mentally ill, incarcerated for years and not tried before the courts.

“Over the decades, they have been held at the General Penitentiary but a proper protocol has not been worked out as to how they get psychiatric care,” says Justice Minister Delroy Chuck. “So so often many of them get lost in the system which is really unfortunate because the law provides for the registrar and court administrators in the parish courts to have a monthly check on those persons who have been sent to the General Penitentiary being unfit to plea.”

However, this system has not been enforced to date. There are reports of plans to set up a policy to prevent a repeat of what happened to Noel Chambers – however, when this will happen remains unclear.

“I must admit that it is a matter that has come up for discussion among the Ministry of Health, Ministry of National Security and Ministry of Justice but to be very frank, a proper protocol has not been worked out as yet,” Chuck explains. “How do we treat these mentally unfit persons because they are not really suppose to be in the general population of prisoners. If we are going to hold them in a penitentiary then we should have facilities to take care of them so they can be seen on a regular basis by psychiatrists.”

The Ministry of National Security says it has ordered an audit into the operations, hoping to address the more than decade-old problem.

“What the public can be assured of is that where there is accountability, it will be had but it won’t be accountability for the sake of accountability,” says Matthew Samuda, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of National Security. “It will be accountability to facilitate the change that is required where change is required.”

The Justice Ministry is now looking into implementing the required facilities at Adult Correctional centres and the Bellevue hospital to accommodate those charged with an offence but suffering from a mental illness. But, many are wondering if this plan is just a reactive one to an issue that should have been addressed years ago.

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