Hunter mum on HIV in prisons - Commissioner of corrections reassigned in security ministry
Published:Thursday | April 11, 2019 | 12:32 AM
Outgoing Commissioner of Corrections Ina Hunter yesterday declined to comment on the findings of a 2018 study conducted by the National Family Board, which concluded that inmates in Jamaica’s adult correctional institutions are contracting HIV at an alarming rate.
Instead, Hunter opted to use her last day on the job make the case for modern correctional facilities which are purposed-built to facilitate meaningful rehabilitation.
She explained that in Jamaica, the ratio of inmates to a cell makes for less-than-ideal conditions for incarcerated persons to socialise and that global best practices show rehabilitation is most effective where prisoners are housed one to a cell.
Hunter will today begin serving as the first chief programmes officer in the Ministry of National Security.
In an email to heads of units, directors and superintendents, she advised of the transfer to “take up duties in the newly established post”.
“It was a pleasure to serve at the Department of Correctional Services for approximately 20 years and I am grateful to serve in another capacity,” she said.
The HIV study, which looked at 726 inmates who had been incarcerated for more than six months from three male correctional centres and one female institution, found that the prevalence rate was 6.9 per cent, more than 100 per cent higher than the 3.3 per cent recorded in 2011.
The St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre had the highest rate, followed by the Tower Street Adult Correction Centre in downtown Kingston, the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre (for women), and the Tamarind Farm Adult Correctional Centre. Some inmates claimed they had contracted HIV in prison.