PRISON MURDER IRONY
Inmate kills warder hours after int’l community flays Jamaica over penal system abuse
LESS than 48 hours after Jamaica was flayed by representatives of several countries over its treatment of people in the penal system, the reverse played out at St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre yesterday.
This time it was a warder who was stabbed to death, allegedly by an inmate, in an incident which is still being investigated.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) reported that 32-year-old temporary correctional officer Jimel Westney, who had just joined the service from the last intake of the Carl Rattray Training College, was stabbed inside the prison in Spanish Town.
According to the DCS, Westney was performing his assigned duties during the facility’s unlocking process when he was attacked by the inmate, whose identity has not been released.
Westney, who was in his seventh week of duty with the DCS, was taken to hospital where he died while being treated.
The DCS said it had started grief counselling yesterday afternoon with the custodial staff and administration who worked with Westney.
In the meantime, state minister in the Ministry of National Security Matthew Samuda, who has responsibility for the DCS, was quick to condemn the killing of the correctional officer.
“I am truly saddened at the news. I join all of Jamaica in extending my condolence to correctional officer Westney’s family, friends, and indeed to all correctional officers,” Samuda told the Jamaica Observer after delivering a similar statement during a sitting of the Senate.
“The incident underscores the need for urgent legislative reform, and capital investment to tackle the problem of contraband in the island’s prisons. Contraband represents a threat to the safety of our team and the rest of Jamaica.
“Our team is hurting, and the necessary arrangements for counselling are being made,” added Samuda, who recently announced that the laws will be amended to impose tougher penalties on people found to be taking contraband into prisons, as well as inmates found in possession of these items.
At that time Samuda said the security ministry was reviewing strategies to strengthen its contraband prevention methods in light of reports of the importation and exportation of contraband in correctional facilities.
“I don’t know if there is a prison in the world that doesn’t have contraband issues. However, it’s an extreme issue in our local correctional facilities. As such, we are looking into procedural, technological, and infrastructural changes that will address these issues,” Samuda said then.
On Wednesday, a number of representatives of several countries blasted Jamaica for its treatment of prison inmates during a review of the country’s record by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Among those most critical of Jamaica was the representative of the United Kingdom, who said her Government was concerned about reports of human rights abuses being perpetrated on the inmate population in the island’s penal institutions.
In a statement delivered at the review on Jamaica, Britain’s International Ambassador for Human Rights Rita French, who is also the country’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, advised the UN council and Jamaica’s Government about her country’s concerns.
Ambassador French used the occasion to urge the Jamaican Government to “continue to work to reduce fatal shooting incidents by strengthening the Independent Commission of Investigations [INDECOM], and ensuring that the Jamaican correctional system adheres to international human rights standards”.
French shared her country’s recommendations to improve Jamaica’s human rights record.
These included that, “The Jamaican Government responds constructively to the anticipated government task force report on the long-term incarceration of mentally ill people in Jamaican prisons and addresses the systemic failures identified by the Independent Commission on Investigations.”