It provides key findings and recommendations following the visit of an Amnesty International delegation to the Bahamas in August 2002 and ongoing monitoring since that date. The delegation was accompanied by an expert in prison management and criminal justice matters, Professor Rod Morgan. Professor Morgan is currently Chief Inspector of Probation for Her Majesty's Government, England and Wales and Amnesty International is indebted to Professor Morgan for his invaluable assistance throughout the visit.
Many of Amnesty Internationalﾒs recommendations for reform echo those of previous reports. They do not require major expenditure. Indeed, the cost of reform pales in comparison to the costs of inaction for society. Tackling gross overcrowding through legislative, procedural and judicial reform for example will improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system ﾖ impacting upon its ability to convict the guilty and acquit the innocent.
In the year since the organisationﾒs visit there have been several notable positive developments, including the publication of a report outlining a programme of planned reform for the prison service and the review of legislation concerning police powers.
Whilst Government and civil society have acknowledged the problems that exist in the Bahamas for prisoners detained in Fox Hill and embarked upon a serious programme of change however, the problems afflicting both refugees and migrants detained at the Carmichael Immigration Detention Centre have received far less attention from Government and generate little public sympathy.
Amnesty International believes that urgent action is needed to end arbitrary detention of immigration detainees, investigate reports of ill-treatment and torture and better protect the rights of asylum-seekers and other migrants. The organisation is especially concerned about the rights of children; detained for inordinately long periods of time without regard to any of their rights, particularly rights to education, exercise and contact with family, with the likelihood of a severely detrimental effect on the children concerned.
What is most needed now is a move from recognition to action. Amnesty International remains optimistic about the possibility of reform and is hopeful that its findings will be considered in the context of an overall package to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system. If reform is to take place, what is needed first and foremost is political will.
The report concludes that individuals in detention continue to be detained in conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Without urgent action, the lives of others detained in the Bahamas will continue to be similarly placed at risk.
A copy of the complete report is available here.
MS-Word.doc format 2.5MB
