The Hunts Bay Police Station located in the St Andrew South division. - photo by Marlon Vickerman

A preliminary report prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in December 2008 called for the closure of the Hunts Bay Police Station lock-up in the St Andrew South Division.

The damning prelude to the final report, scheduled for release later this year, called on the Government to act with immediacy in remedying what it deemed inhumane conditions in police holding cells.

"The commission calls for urgent action to be taken to transfer the persons detained at Hunts Bay to a place that offers adequate standards of detention," the introductory report said.

The commission recommended that the State comply with the applicable international human-rights standards and take the necessary measures to resolve the problem of overcrowding in prisons and police holding cells.

However, Superintendent Delroy Hewitt, the officer in charge of the division, dismissed the commission's call to transfer the persons detained at Hunts Bay to another location, as he believes the findings of the IACHR were written in hyperbolic terms.

"I think it is highly exaggerated. It is not as easy as that; taking prisoners and transferring them because the other facilities probably suffer from the same overcrowding," he said.

Delegation's report

A delegation from the IACHR visited the island last year at the invitation of Prime Minister Bruce Golding. A release on the com-mission's website said that the delegation visited the holding cells of Spanish Town and Hunts Bay police stations and found that the detainees have to share dark, un-ventilated and dirty cramped cells.

"The delegation was particularly shocked by the inhumane condi-tions found at Hunts Bay Police Station, where the detainees, crowded in numbers of up to six persons per cell, live among garbage and urine with absolutely no consideration for their dignity," read a section of the release captioned, 'Preliminary Observa-tions on the Commission's Visit to Jamaica'.

Supt Hewitt believes the only major problem at Hunts Bay is the overcrowding. "Nothing is wrong with the structure. It is just that it is overcrowded. There is no need for major repairs," he said.

The delegation also visited some of the nation's prisons.

The interim report pointed out that the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre was over-subscribed by almost 400 prisoners. "Many of the areas of this prison facility were over-crowded, with 1,240 inmates in a prison built for 850, and the delegation saw up to four people in an individual cell," the report said.

However, the commission concluded that the problem of overcrowding was worse in police holding cells than in the prisons.

"The problem of overcrowding is even more critical in the police holding cells, where arrested people are locked up with persons detained on remand in completely inadequate spaces."

The report continued: "Police officers in Spanish Town reported that the mentally ill detainees were locked up in the bathroom of the holding section."

Hewitt told The Gleaner that the hands of the police are handcuffed, as they can do nothing to ease the overcrowding. "Put it this way, the lock-ups have never been adequate in terms of space. We suffer from overcrowding and we have no control over that," said the senior cop, who was not at the helm of the St Andrew South Division when the inspection was done by representatives of the IACHR. Hewitt pointed out that he took over the reins of the Hunts Bay Police Station some two weeks ago.

The facility at Hunts Bay was built to accommodate 28 persons. Hewitt admitted that the maximum capacity has been exceeded but refused to say how many persons were currently being held there. His refusal, he said, was "for more than one reason and for security reasons also".

"It is far, far more than the capacity that we suppose to have," he said.

Unhygienic conditions, coupled with the problem of overcrowding, give rise to the rapid spread of communicable diseases. "We had a situation where about four persons were diagnosed with scabies the other day," Hewitt revealed. The infected persons were removed and quarantined while the cell was being cleansed, Hewitt said.

Hewitt admitted that in addition to the threat of outbreaks, overcrowding can also increase the chances of prisoners breaking out. But, he said, "The reality on the ground is that we don't have any additional facilities to hold the majority of the excess. There is no immediate solution."

However, he understands that medium- and long-term measures are being pursued to ease the congestion.

Major Richard Reese, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, did not return our calls, which sought his response.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com