Chang: No concessions for drug traffickers despite poor detention conditions

WESTERN BUREAU:

While foreigners in the island’s lock-ups are subjected to the same ills faced by locals – from termites to extortion – there are mixed views on whether more of those who commit non-violent offences, such as drug smuggling, should be fined and deported rather than sent to prisons.

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang was militant when The Sunday Gleaner quizzed him on the issue, declaring that protecting Jamaica’s borders from drug-smuggling operatives must take priority over the individuals’ concerns about accommodation.

“The conditions for detaining foreigners or local drug traders are the same, and we are not going to make exceptions. Cocaine dealers coming into the country are a risk to the whole society … . Their concern should be about carrying cocaine that brings a health risk to a whole heap of people, and that is the concern they should talk about before they talk about their personal care,” said Chang.

“Once they are detained and we have the evidence, we do not have much of a problem. The issue of contentious detainees is rare because the officers are not going to detain and charge them unless they have hard evidence,” the minister added, noting that the Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA) continuously monitors the island’s lock-ups.

“But for the cocaine and gun trade, I do not make any concession there,” Chang added.

But King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie believes that provision should be made for foreign defendants, who plead guilty or are tried and found guilty for drug offences, to pay hefty fines instead of serving mandatory prison terms as keeping them in custody locally is not sustainable.

“In treating with the issue of sentencing for foreigners in such instances, the classical principles of sentencing needs to be readjusted. It does not profit us to have long prison terms for foreigners because it is a drain on our economy and our limited resources,” Champagnie told The Sunday Gleaner.

“This is not to say that in those instances, it must only be a fine in terms of sentencing … . In some cases, where appropriate, depending on the quantity and the type of dangerous drugs, a fine or other alternative to a prison term would be more appropriate and would benefit our system in terms of our resources,” Champagnie suggested.

In western Jamaica, cocaine cases involving both foreigners and locals have featured prominently in the St James Parish Court over the years, to the point that concerns have been voiced about St James becoming a flashpoint for drug trafficking.

After several weeks, the Jamaica Constabulary Force was unable to tell The Sunday Gleaner the amount and value of cocaine seized from foreigners in attempts to transport the drug overseas in recent years and the number of foreigners currently in custody serving sentences or awaiting court dates.

Attempts to get data on the number of foreigners in the island’s prisons and for what offences from the Court Administration Division and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) have also been unsuccessful.

However, previous coverage by The Gleaner of the St James Parish Court shows that eight people, seven of them being British nationals, were arrested on separate occasions in May 2023 alone for attempting to smuggle a combined 73.25 pounds of cocaine on to flights destined for England. The combined value of the seized drug was approximately $100 million.

Among those held in those cases was British national David Thomas, who was sentenced on June 1, 2023 to two years’ imprisonment for trying to smuggle 16 pounds of cocaine through the Sangster International Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay, St James, on May 3 that year. Fellow Britons Loran Bartley and Luke Bradly were both sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment on May 19, 2023, each convicted of attempting to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine through the SIA on May 6 that year.

Since January of this year, at least four foreigners have appeared before the St James court in relation to cocaine offences. These include British national Sianece Clarke-Johnson, who was sentenced on June 26 to six months’ imprisonment for attempting to smuggle 1.6 kilogrammes of cocaine, valued at $7.6 million, inside craft items on February 26; and Dutch national Patrick Crawford, who will be sentenced on September 11 for trying to smuggle nine pounds of cocaine, valued at $28.3 million, on to a flight to Brussels, Belgium, on May 9.

Regarding the housing conditions for remanded foreigners, a police source, who did not want to be identified, said that locals and foreigners alike have to endure conditions that are unfit for inmates’ physical or emotional well-being.

“The treatment in custody is not different for foreigners; what the law says is that, based on diplomatic relations, within 24 hours you are to inform the consulate, but it does not happen all the while ... . Poor ventilation, overcrowding, rats, ‘chi-chi’ (termites), they have to go through all of those things,” the officer outlined.

“They get extorted by criminals inside the facility, they are beaten at times, and they are drafted to pick sides within the internal network of the lock-up. They have complained about it, but it has not been captured officially,” the source continued. “There is no [special] treatment. The police will just try their best to ensure the tourists are not beaten, but that is it.”

The poor conditions of the islands prisons have sparked concerns over the decades with the DCS admitting in 2014 that it was unable to effectively conduct risk profiles and rehabilitation of inmates due to overcrowding.

As recently as 2022, the PCOA issued a report on the dismal state of lock-ups in the Area One Police Division, which covers St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, and Trelawny. It noted inadequate physical checks of cells and perimeter patrols, as well as poor records management, despite the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s policy stating that physical checks of cells should take place once every 24 hours.

Cornwall Bar Association President Michael Hemmings told The Sunday Gleaner that while there should be no distinction between locals and foreigners who are remanded, the state of lock-ups needs to be improved.

“Where offences are committed against the State and persons are charged, whether locals or foreigners, both groups are housed at the same facilities. There cannot be a separation or distinction made for locals and foreigners as to where they should be kept, but what I will say is that throughout the western area of the island, all lock-ups are in need of major improvements,” said the attorney.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com