Close to half of Her Majesty’s Prison inmate population is on remand and nearly 500 locked away for relatively minor crimes, contributing to overcrowding at the Fox Hill facility.
Addressing participants of a four-day international crime summit yesterday, Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming said 650 inmates are awaiting trial, some for up to four years.
Anyone on remand at the prison for two years without being tried is usually released on bail.
“If seven years ago, when the new remand centre was built, planners had taken into account the size of the remand population, a larger remand facility would have been built thus relieving Maximum Security of close to 300 inmates,” Dr. Rahming said.
“This would have brought the Maximum Security Unitﾒs population well near its intended capacity, thereby obviating the state of overcrowding and all that goes with it.”
According to Dr. Rahming, the remand centre currently houses 278 inmates.
While Maximum Security has an intended capacity of 450 inmates, there are presently 726 inmates incarcerated there, he said.
Dr. Rahming said that adding to the prisonﾒs overcrowding is the fact that many persons are sent to jail for minor crimes.
There are presently 219 inmates serving time for minor crimes, he said. But Dr. Rahming believes that alternative sentences would have been more effective and less expensive.
Prison statistics show that three inmates are serving time for attempted fraud, another three for stealing from a vehicle, two for the breaching of bond and another two for loitering.
An additional two inmates have been sentenced for sacrilege, one for breaching the Fisheries Act, one for disobeying a summons, another for overstaying time (in the country) and another for trespassing.
Sixty inmates are serving time for breaching the Immigration Act, six for breaching the Road Traffic Act, six for obscene language, and six for threatening harm.
Nine are in prison for disorderly behavior, 80 for possessing drugs (not with intent to supply), 58 for receiving, 14 for resisting arrest, 139 for stealing, 11 for stealing from shops, four for threats of death, nine for unlawful possession and five for vagrancy.
A similar number of persons are said to be incarcerated on remand for similar minor, non-violent crimes, accounting for a total of close to 500 or one-third of the prison population locked away for relatively minor crimes.
Consequently, based on a prison population of 1,465, there are 480 inmates per 100,000 population ﾖ the eighth highest per capita prison population in the world and the third highest in the Caribbean.
This means that one of every 200 Bahamians is behind bars.
Construction has begun on a new state-of-the-art Maximum Security prison that is expected to house approximately 700 to 800 inmates, the prison superintendent indicated.
“Assuming that I can design The Bahamas, a prison here would be reserved for categories like dangerous violent offenders, multiple recidivists and corruption offenders,” Dr. Rahming said.
“I think that prison ought to be the penalty of last resort ﾖ only as a means of protecting society. In other words, whenever there is an alternative that would be effective, that alternative should be used. And there is any number of alternatives. For instance, if a young man commits a minor offense and he is illiterate, would not it be better to assign him to a literacy programme as opposed to prison?ﾅHe is given two years to learn how to read.”
Dr. Rahming also built his argument on the premise that some minor offenders may be the breadwinners of their families.
“We have no mechanism built in to substitute for his loss in his absence,” he said.
“And so not only have we penalized him, we have invited tremendous pressure on that family; the wife then becomes creative.”
The divorce rate for married inmates reportedly stands at an estimated 75 percent.
Officials have also long stressed that overcrowding is one of the major impediments to rehabilitation, one of the key functions of todayﾒs prisons, along with punishment, incapacitation and deterrence.
But they have also pointed out that complete prison reform will not be achieved overnight.
“Yes, there is still smuggling in Maximum Security. Yes, there is overcrowding in Maximum Security and yes, many of the structures are old and in a poor state of repair,” Dr. Rahming said.
“But let no one fool you. We are slowly, but inexorably bringing about prison reform ﾖ fundamental in nature and comprehensive in scope.”
The prisonﾒs rehabilitation programmes typically centre around technical, vocational and academic courses, work programmes and various forms of therapy and behavioral adjustment modalities.
There are also now formal training programmes in small engine repair, tailoring, entrepreneurial skills, cabinet and furniture making, ceramics, welding, culinary arts and computer courses.
Informal practical training programmes are in place in construction trades, auto mechanics, farming, plumbing and electrical installation.
The aim is to prepare inmates for self- employment as far as possible.
On the academic side, there are basic literacy and numeracy classes as well as BJC subjects.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
