On Thursday last week, 27-year-old Jamaican Omar Jones, a detainee at Carmichael Road, was barely able to stand. His ribs were swollen, the rest of his body was badly bruised and his legs were so painful that they quaked beneath him. Physically, he had been reduced to a state of temporary disability. Mentally, he was a bewildered wreck.
He had, according to relatives, been savagely and brutally beaten by a Defence Force officer while behind the wire at Nassau’s detention centre. He had been convicted of no offence that warranted detention (in fact, he had not even appeared before a court, except on a minor traffic matter in which he was fined) and was hammered mercilessly for no good reason that his family is aware of.
On the face of it, this was yet one more example of gratuitous violence on the part of people whose job is to protect society, not violate innocents. The extent to which the incident will be investigated will be of great interest to all those who revile abuse of power, whatever its source, and especially those with an interest in Mr Jones’ welfare.
As of last Wednesday night, however, when the beating first came to light, the signs were not good. Immigration Minister Vincent Peet was unavailable for comment, the Jamaican consul Pat Hanlan was being extremely circumspect, and other official sources were as dumbstruck as brass monkeys. It was the same old story of official silence in the face of compelling and deeply disturbing evidence.
Since then, Mr Peet and Mr Hanlan have promised investigations. Human rights observers are now wondering whether the inquiries will be rigorously pursued, or allowed to fizzle out with the passage of time.
Meanwhile, Mr Jones’ Bahamian wife Ingrid – who had just given birth to twins and was in need of further hospital treatment – was left in a distressed state by the reports emerging from behind the detention centre fence about the father of her newborn babies. He was in distress, perplexed and broken in spirit. His pain was her pain.
In addition to post-natal complications, she was obliged to endure the mental agony of knowing that her husband had been beaten up by a uniformed law enforcer, apparently for no good reason. He was, it seems, the victim of recreational barbarism.
Mr Jones, who has lived in the Bahamas for two years, was – according to family sources – being held for the simple reason that he allegedly owed the Immigration Department $1,900 for work permits.
Yet, they claim, he has never worked while in the Bahamas and has never been brought before the courts to explain his so-called Odebt’. According to them, his detention was wholly illegal and arbitrary. Now this alleged injustice has been compounded by an act of senseless violence. What will be done about it?
An official complaint has already been lodged with senior police officers while influential family friends try to get to the bottom of an incident which ought to spark indignation among all Bahamians and raise a mass of questions among politicians.
The Jones case is especially significant because it comes within days of the dormitory fire started by Cuban detainees complaining about “inhumane” conditions inside the detention centre. The fire, which destroyed an entire building, came within 24 hours of a government report which critics dismissed as a “whitewash”.
Already, conditions at Carmichael Road are well-known internationally. The fire and the reasons behind it received widespread agency coverage. Together with the horrors of Fox Hill Prison, the deprivation and humiliation which have become routine at Carmichael Road are now seen as part of a pattern of human rights abuse in the Bahamas.
For those whose confidence in the Defence Force was shaken by the Lorequin report, which highlighted theft and corruption by some officers, the new allegations demand candid and speedy answers.
Is there a culture of gratuitous abuse ļ¾ among some Defence Force officers? Does the Bahamas government have uniformed brutes on the payroll? Are foreign detainees – and especially Cubans and Jamaicans – targets of savage assaults for no good reason other than that they are vulnerable and unrepresented?
According to a source close to Mr Jones’ family, and with inside knowledge of Defence Force methods, there is indeed a culture of brutality and abuse among some officers. The Jones case, he said, is but one of many instances where innocent people have been roughed up for no reason. Some officers see punching, kicking and slapping detainees as sport, and an opportunity to exercise their sadistic tendencies on people who have no means of striking back.
“I can think of an incident involving Cubans which sparked an international incident,” he said, “the suggestion was that the whole thing was started by drunken Defence Force officers who were abusing detainees for no good reason.
“The case of Mr Jones is not a one-off incident. It is not even unusual.
Brutality among some members of the Defence Force is commonplace.”
Mr Jones’ ordeal began with a simple traffic violation. There was, according to family members, a “misunderstanding” relating to his documents. He ended up at the detention centre because the Immigration Department claimed he owed it money.
Although he has a Bahamian wife, Mr Jones found himself alongside Haitians, Cubans and fellow Jamaicans who were awaiting “processing” for repatriation.
Despite his family claiming he is not an illegal immigrant, that was the status he was accorded once he found himself penned in at Carmichael Road, which is already under scrutiny by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. If the injustice of his predicament is worrying in itself, it bears no comparison to the treatment his family claims he received at the hands of one brutal officer.
Mr Jones was allegedly taken to a room by two officers, one of whom waited outside while the beating took place. Once inside, he was kicked in the back. He fell to the floor, but was hauled to his feet by his throat. He was choked to the point of passing out, then released. Once he had regained his breath he was choked again, claimed Mr Jones.
The assault was protracted and unrestrained. Mr Jones was tossed around like a rag doll and kicked repeatedly.
Throughout, the officer allegedly told him he intended to kill him. He said other officers were on hand to help to kill him. Mr Jones was terrified. He was warned of the consequences if he told anyone else about the attack. What had he done to provoke such abuse? So far as he knows, absolutely nothing apart from making repeated requests, along with Jamaican compatriots, for a telephone so that they could contact relatives.
The officer allegedly told him he hated “f…… Jamaicans” because they kept coming to the Bahamas and causing trouble. This racial prejudice appeared to be the main motivation for the abuse.
A Tribune reporter who interviewed Mr Jones said afterwards: “He seemed hurt, genuinely hurt.” He required hospital treatment for his injuries. The story has already caused outrage among concerned parties in the legal and law enforcement community. They recognise that the ramifications are immense, given international emphasis on human rights and the Bahamas’ desire for full acceptance as a significant player in the community of nations.
“This detention facility has the potential to cause the Bahamas enormous international embarrassment,” a legal source told me, “Like the prison, Carmichael Road is a disgrace that cannot be defended by anyone of rational mind. For Defence Force officers to be allowed the leeway to kick and abuse innocent detainees is something we cannot allow to go on. It is barbaric.”
In addition, he said, there was no law in the Bahamas that allowed a detainee to be incarcerated for non-payment of an alleged debt unless the case had been heard before a court. In this case, no such proceedings had taken place.
If physical abuse were the only allegation laid at the Defence Force’s door, it would be bad enough. In fact, the accusations go much deeper than that and point to a culture of corruption and criminality among “rogue” officers which requires urgent and serious attention.
For three years or more, I have been receiving information from within the Defence Force which points to rampant indiscipline in some quarters and outright criminal corruption in others.
Last week, as a result of the Jones incident, The Tribune was told of Defence Force abuses that will send tremors through its Coral Harbour base and, one hopes, spark genuine concern at ministerial level.
Our information, from inside the force itself, suggests that some officers are routinely using their uniforms and authority to extort money from illegal immigrants.
“The Jones incident is all part of a scam that everyone in the force knows is going on,” said The Tribune’s source. “It is a means officers use to boost their pay. They abuse and threaten detainees to get money. It’s as simple as that.”
If Carmichael Road is seen by the government as purely a local issue, they should note last week’s troubling Tribune report about Cuban cruise passengers who refused to get off their ship in Nassau harbour.
The Cubans, all refugees from communism, said they did not wish to spend money in the Bahamas because of the country’s reputation for human rights abuses. They said the Carmichael Road centre is now notorious as a place where detainees are badly treated.
And they said the Bahamas can expect no co-operation in the future from a “free” Cuba because of its treatment of innocent people whose only crime was to seek a life of freedom.
If the shortcomings of Carmichael Road were being highlighted by only one source, officialdom might find it easier to dismiss complaints now being laid at its door. But the events of the last two weeks – and especially the blaze which triggered a mini-uprising at the centre – have placed the question of human rights in the Bahamas firmly on the international stage.
British businessman David Bright, 36, who is himself being held at Carmichael Road, has courageously exposed abuses he has witnessed there. He says detainees are treated with “disdain and animosity” in a degrading facility where humiliation is a way of life.
Of course, no-one is suggesting that all detention centre guards, or all Defence Force officers, are evil, brutal or corrupt. In fact, it’s important to state now that this is clearly not the case. Much of the information fed to The Tribune comes from sources within the force whose concern and anger can no longer be contained.
Mr Bright, appalled as he is by what he has seen, shows a measure of understanding when he describes how some guards react to the conditions in which they are obliged to work.
“I have witnessed at first hand brutal beatings by guards and been part of it. They become frustrated and snap at having to work in that environment.
They are showing their position of strength and abuse that position.
“Detainees cannot fight back and have to just take it. These people are not convicted criminals. They are detainees looking for a better life and they are treated appallingly by the Bahamian government. Human rights issues in this country need to be addressed urgently.”
Put bluntly, what Mr Bright has witnessed is mindless abuse by men who are underpaid, under-valued and over-stressed working in an environment that most of us would not wish to be part of at any price.
It is well-known that men with low self-esteem frequently misuse what little authority they are given – and abuse those who are perceived as being lower down the scale than they are, especially if they operate in an environment where they are unlikely to be held accountable.
What politicians need to address now is whether law enforcement, and the supervision of detainees, can safely be left in the hands of people who, for whatever reason, are fundamentally deficient and dysfunctional.
Critics who view the current situation with mounting concern now feel that better quality people need to be employed at much higher salaries to undertake this vitally important work. There needs to be an ethos built on discipline, high principle and a genuine concern for human dignity. Allowing the process to lie in the hands of undisciplined, boneheaded louts is simply not acceptable.
“The allegation of extortion comes as no surprise when you think that these guys are often of low IQ on a wage of well under $20,000 a year,” said one observer.
“The temptation to extort money from defenceless people can never be defended, but it is understandable when you consider that some of these guys find it hard to make ends meet from week to week. They are under constant pressure in a high-priced society. They face the stress of working in a dreadful place and of meeting their financial obligations at home. It can’t be easy for them.”
Whatever the reasons behind the Carmichael Road situation, those who are concerned about the international image of the Bahamas know it cannot go on.
The alleged brutal battering of Omar Jones, the dormitory fire, the riot which left several people injured, Amnesty’s damning report, and the apparent apathy of the Bahamian public are all coalescing into a picture which is far from pretty.
A firm declaration of intent from the government is already long overdue.
What do you think? Fax 328-2398 or e-mail jmarquis@tribunemedia.net
John Marquis, INSIGHT section of The Tribune
December 20, 2004
