Prison Dilemma
• Rejection of UK’s $5.5-billion prison deal was a fatal move, federation of corrections chairman believes• It will now cost over $31b to construct maximum security facility
Published:Saturday | August 24, 2024 | 12:09 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica should have acted on the $5.5-billion offer from the United Kingdom’s Government for the construction of a new prison first disclosed in 2015, chairman of the Jamaica Federation of Corrections, Arlington Turner, believes.
Turner, who has been in his role for 13 years, is of the view that the rejection had more to do with not wanting to accept an offer from former colonialists which, he said, was logical.
“But if we had accepted such a prison, a £25-million (J$5.5-billion) prison that was supposed to be built and they were supposed to send some inmates when they are about to be released and money would follow, we would now have a maximum security prison,” Turner told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
“We would have a state-of-the-art prison that can hold our prisoners in safe custody.”
He added, “These cell phone issues that we are talking about today, we would never have these issues. So, yes, it should have been accepted. But as custodians we’re not a part of the politics and we don’t speak politics. I think the politics got involved where that prison was concerned and this is why it was rejected.”
He noted that the Government rejected the offer without having a viable option.
He said it was reasoned that Jamaica would fund its own prison and not accept the offer made by David Cameron, the then UK prime minister, who made the announcement on a visit to Jamaica in September 2015, during Portia Simpson Miller’s stewardship of the country.
‘WE CANNOT CONTINUE WITH THESE PRISONS’
Turner said since then, several proposals have been drafted for a self-funded prison as well as discussions put on the table, but said if the latest dialogue surrounding the issue is dissected it is clear that there are no plans to build a new facility.
“We cannot continue with these prisons. [The cost] is coming from $3 billion to $8 billion and now we are hearing about $31 billion and counting to build a prison, with no serious moves to build any prisons,” he stressed.
“So we don’t really have any serious [impetus] from the Government to build any correctional facility and I think these facilities will have to fall right down before they are serious about building a facility.”
The construction of a new prison has been a years-long thorny issue, with considerations given to the political consequences of funding a modern maximum security facility.
The subject has again taken centre stage following a disclosure by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey that the eight persons killed in Clarendon and the injuring of at least 10 on August 11 in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, was facilitated from behind bars.
While firm in his aversion to accepting the offer from the British when he was opposition leader, Holness, in 2020, said the offer to help build a prison here was “rejected” by the Simpson Miller-led government in 2016 and not the now-ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
OUTRAGED AT THE PROPOSAL
Holness said the People’s National Party (PNP) administration, which his JLP booted from office in February 2016, had by then “rejected” the offer, saying there was no advancement on a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was reportedly signed.
“From the known actions of the PNP, or lack thereof, one could conclude that the PNP had, in fact, rejected the 2015 offer,” Holness said.
“I cannot speak for what the PNP accepts as an offer between governments. However, the standard of this Government is that statements in the press or general discussions, even with ministry officials, do not amount to offers between countries.”
Jamaicans were outraged at the proposal, which would see the British funding 40 per cent of the cost, Jamaica the remaining 60 per cent, and the return of over 300 Jamaicans serving time in UK prisons.
Holness, while in opposition, said the offer was not beneficial to Jamaica.
Former British High Commissioner to Jamaica, Asif Ahmad, said it was Holness, in August 2017, who told his Government that the JLP administration “would not take forward” the United Kingdom’s offer to help build the prison.