I read with great consternation an interview by Clevon Raphael in his Face to Face column with Rev Clive Abdulah about a Cabinet-appointed Commission of Enquiry into modernisation of the operations of the country's prison system which was done 33 years ago.This interview was published in the Sunday Guardian on March 31, 2013. Rev Abdulah was the chairman of the Commission of Enquiry.
In the interview he lamented that little or nothing was done with his Commissions' recommendations and he is quoted as saying that as far as he knows the Remand Yard of the prison remains close to hell.I quote from the interview: "I do not know what is happening in the general prison system and I certainly think the Remand Yard (shaking his head in utter disappointment and disgust)–you know that is as close to hell as far as I know, still...."
Thirty-three years later the Ryan Report touched upon the conditions that exist in the nation's prisons and the possible solutions to ease the burden of both the incarcerated and the frustration of prison officers.I understand that there is a 500-page in-depth report and analysis of the prison conditions and the possible solutions to the problems. I refer to the recent annual report of the Inspector of Prisons, Daniel Khan.
This report was delivered to the Ministry of Justice via the Permanent Secretary a few months ago.Thus, I respectfully suggest to the Minister of Justice, Senator Christlyn Moore, whose portfolio includes the prisons, that the Inspector of Prisons Report be laid in Parliament (as were the Abdulah and Ryan Reports) in order to give all members of Parliament an opportunity to engage in informed and national discussion on the reform of the prison system.
The reform of the nation's prison system concerns all the citizenry. It is not only the concern of the government and Parliament. Please let the ordinary citizens have an input in the discussion of prison reform. It concerns all of us and we must not be left out of this important discussion.Minister, as a citizen and a practitioner at the Criminal Bar for the past 34 years, I want to know if the remand yard is really like hell and if so, what we as a nation can do about rectifying it.
Thus I call upon Minister Christlyn Moore to table the Inspector of Prisons Report in Parliament for a much-needed national debate. The alternative to this respectful and polite suggestion is that the Fourth Estate would be entitled to obtain a copy under the Freedom of Information Act in order to commence the public debate on the much needed Prison Reform.
Israel B Khan SC,
via e-mail