National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday Government would put measures in place to monitor prisoners who would secure bail in the wake of the expiration of the Bail (Amendment) Bill and Anti-Gang legislation.
There are some 600 prisoners in the system who can now access bail after the Acts expired at midnight.
“They are entitled to apply for bail. Whether they are granted bail or not is another matter,” Dillon said yesterday.
“Being proactive, the Ministry of National Security would take the necessary measures to ensure those who apply for bail and who would have been there on several kinds of charges, would take the necessary precaution and the necessary action to do further monitoring if and when bail is granted.”
Dillon declined to reveal much more about the ministry’s plans in that area. However, he assured: “We will take the necessary additional measures if and when certain persons are granted bail.”
Government had previously indicated its desire to extend the legislation for another two years, to August, 2016, but failed to get Opposition support on that, hence the lapse of the legislation.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian on the issue yesterday, secretary of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Anand Ramesar said the expiration of the legislation now removed one of the tools in their fight against crime.
He added that the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit (CGIU) served two purposes, to rid the country of gangs through arrests and to gather information relating to gangs but with the expiration of the Acts, he said CGIU officers could now only gather information in relation to specific crimes, since being in a gang or any affiliated gang offences were now no longer illegal.
“This was one of the major tools we had in the Police Service armoury. Now that has been taken away with the passage of time,” Ramesar said.
With the expiration of the Bail Bill, anyone arrested for gun-related offences can now be granted bail once they meet the necessary criteria. This controversial amendment had seen a division in the magistracy, as some magistrate believed that the amended law applied to all gun-related offenders while others viewed the law as applicable to illegal firearm owners.
The misconception was cleared up when Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar ruled that the law was to address illegal guns and only those with illegal guns should be denied bail for a 120-day period.
Leading up to the expiration of the bills, the Government sought an extension but was not supported by the Opposition, as the law requires a three-fifth majority.
AG disappointed
Speaking about the current situation yesterday, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said he was disappointed that the Opposition did not support the move to extend the life of the legislation.
Now that the bills have expired, the offence of being a gang leader, member or assisting a gang member are no longer offences under law.
He added, however, that it would not be that some offenders would be automatically granted bail but that they could now apply to a judge for bail before 120 days and if they are denied they could re-apply within 28 days.
He added that the system used to deny bail under the expired laws were based on charges and not convictions and given the current sluggish criminal justice system, the charges route versus conviction was a more feasible approach.
Al-Rawi added that the full effect of the expiration would be known tomorrow after remanded prisoners apply for bail now that the law was defunct.
He said that was something that was advanced with great vigour by two former attorney generals — Anand Ramlogan and Garvin Nicholas — along with former government senator Wayne Sturge, when the People’s Partnership was in government and he questioned why they did not support the amendments now.
Al-Rawi said since the court wis on vacation the Government was monitoring the situation to see whether Chief Justice Ivor Archie would need to call out another judge to assist the lone judge now conducting bail hearings, given that approximately 620 people could now access bail.
He said they were now in talks with the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit to determine what kind of law they would now need to convict gang leaders.
“We have to understand what they are made of, how they operate. That should have been going on since 2011 when the law took effect. The question asked now is, do we need such a law,” Al-Rawi said, adding that there is very little data on the effectiveness of the anti-gang legislation.
Al-Rawi said the Government was now doing research within other Commonwealth countries on gang legislation and how they have worked in those countries. He added, however, that he was looking at bringing amendments to the laws in the new parliamentary period.