NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe.
By LETRE SWEETING
Tribune Staff Reporter
lsweeting@tribuemedia.net
NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said when a proposed Parole Bill is passed, his ministry may push for the Prerogative of Mercy to consider terminally ill inmates or those serving life sentences to reduce the strain on the system.
His comments came during a community meeting yesterday evening at Anatol Rodgers High School on the Parole Bill, which would state the laws governing probation, suspended sentences and parole, including conditional release on parole.
Mr Munroe said under parole, the inmate would serve all of their sentence, though a third of it may be outside the prison, involving periodic check-ins with a Correctional Officer who would function as the probation officer.
“The Prerogative of Mercy still functions in Jamaica that has a parole system in mainly two basic ways,” he said.
“The first way is still to release people who are terminally ill or very soon expecting to die, who otherwise would not survive sufficiently long to be paroled. Those persons create challenges to incarceration because you still have the duty of care inclusive of their health condition.
“The other major function of the Prerogative of Mercy committee in Jamaica is when you have people who have been released on life sentences. Some of them have been on life sentences for 20 or 40 years, and the question that comes to the committee is, do you, at that point, end their sentence to relieve the parole system from having to monitor them? And that’s how it functions in Jamaica.
“So the Prerogative of Mercy Bill still exists. Its job will be, if we follow the example of Jamaica, limited to releasing persons who are about to die for humanitarian purposes and to seek to potentially stop the parole officers from having to monitor lifers who have reached an age that, when you look at them, they can’t get out of their own way, they’re no longer a sufficient risk.”
Last month, Acting Corrections Commissioner Doan Cleare said four town hall meetings would be held before a bill establishing a parole system for inmates is tabled in the House of Assembly.
The first meeting took place at Doris Johnson Senior High School on July 19 at 7pm. The second meeting took place at CR Walker on August 2 at 7pm. The location of the next meeting has not been announced.
Comments
SP 9 months ago
Under the guise of using the Prerogative of Mercy, Minister Wayne Munroe is obviously looking for excuses to make prison space available for the revolving door for repeat hardcore career criminals.
His intentions would actually create hardships and massive burdens on ill-equipped families already struggling to survive.
How is releasing people who are terminally ill or very soon expecting to die, and those on life sentences for 20 or 40 years and unable to care for themselves going to benefit the country?
Granted it will reduce the strain on the prison system, however, where and to whom will this "strain" be transferred to?
Unquestionably, the inmates' families are not prepared and cannot afford to deal with such "strains", so who will support, and care for these inmates' medical and daily needs?
This is a foolish initiative, obviously not properly thought through.
If NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe really wants to cherry-pick the best parts of the Jamaican general penitentiary system that would be assets to the Bahamas he needs to seriously consider their "conjugal visits" and sentences including "hard labour"!
Jamaica's penitentiary "conjugal visits" and "hard labour" laws, if implemented, would make immediate huge positive differences in curbing rapes and creating even more deviant homosexuals in prison, while prisoners sentenced with "hard labour" could be utilized as free labour to clean up the nasty inner cities and this unacceptably very dirty "tourist resort destination".
Since he needs to make space for hard-core repeat offenders, they need to stop dragging their feet on releasing prisoners incarcerated on frivolous none violent offences such as petty theft, and personal use drug possession.
We are not as stupid as you politicians have convinced yourselves we are Mr. Munroe!
Porcupine 9 months ago
Unfortunately, these politicians are more stupid than we thought them to be. Simple logic and critical thinking are beyond the intellectual capacity and training of someone like Mr. Munroe. He is clueless and should be nowhere near public policy matters.
Sickened 9 months ago
Excellently written. Kudos SP.
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