Nine men who were deemed insane after being found guilty of murder and detained at the St Ann's Psychiatric Hospital at the President's pleasure for some 30 years may now get a chance of freedom after President Anthony Carmona appointed a nine-member Psychiatric Health Tribunal to review their cases.
It will be headed by Chief Medical Officer Dr Colin Furlonge, who was absent to receive his instrument of appointment yesterday at President's House, St Ann's, as he was out of the country.
Chief Magistrate Marcia-Ayers-Caesar, who was also named as a member of the tribunal, was also absent as she too was out of the country.
Carmona, who distributed the instrument of appointments, described the tribunal as a "ground-breaking moment."
"This tribunal specifically is to deal with nine forgotten persons and I can tell you as a former judge there is nothing greater than a man's liberty and a man's life," Carmona said.
However, he bemoaned what he termed as "presidential inactivity" for the prolonged suffering of the men.
"What we have to do in T&T is to correct the wrongs of the past by doing the right thing today," Carmona said.
He said the nine all shared the inner hope of returning to their respective homes one day and it was now the job of the tribunal to determine that.
Saying there has been an improvement of treatment and drugs for mental health patients over the years, the President said there was probably a "distinct possibility" tsome of the men would invariably go home.
He said under the Mental Health Act of 1975 there was also a Psychiatric Hospital Tribunal but that portfolio was limited in that it dealt with particular cases.
Carmona also paid tribute to consultant psychiatrist Dr Iqbal Ghany, who, he said, had been fighting for some 20 years to establish the tribunal to determine whether people were guilty but insane.
"So I have to commend Dr Ghany because it demonstrates in my view what one professional can do in terms of getting things right," adding that Ghany had stayed the course and had been writing to the Office of the President for the last 20 years.
He added that all the tribunal members were not being paid as the work was being done voluntarily.
"Given your workload that you were prepared to still come forward and give of your time to deal with these cases it says a lot of you all as individuals and for us as a nation... a nation where sometimes we tend to lose hope because in fact we meet so many persons steep in hopelessness, despondence and cynicism," Carmona said.
However, he told the members since the men had committed murder they had the "heavy responsibility" of determining the merits or demerits of their cases.
"There is a man there 69 years old who has been there for 30 years. His life has gone. His life and like the life of those... all those adult years are gone because of presidential inactivity for the last 20 to 30 years," Carmona said.
Release from locked ward
Ghany said he was hoping that the nine men would be released, not into the public domain, but rather from a locked ward to one that was open.
He added that those who had relatives could also be released into their care.
Describing the establishment of the tribunal as light at the end of the tunnel she added: "It's been many years since we have been fighting for this. We should now get something achieved on behalf of these unfortunate people who have been there for many years."
He said he founded the Forensic Unit at the St Ann's Hospital in 1972 and had been working there from since then to present.
"I have received all the cases at the President's pleasure and recently those at the court's pleasure," Ghany said.
He said the term "president's pleasure" was a term used as it was the system of England back then.
"But now we have the clear separation of the powers and now we have at the court's pleasure. The system is different and it can be reviewed every three years and the court would determine whether they should be set free or not," Ghany said.
He said under the tribunal of the Mental Health Act the patient could apply for review of his case.
Pressed further if that was an option that was available all along Ghany said: "Not really. It wasn't put into force at all. The hospital tribunal had never met for over five years... and this is one of the problems. It is in breach of the patient's rights and all the human rights that you could think about.
"So these people were just neglected and locked up in St Ann's and we could do nothing about it,"
The detainees:
• Joseph Estrada
• Humphrey Simmons
• Richard Smead
• Ricardo Daniel
• Gregory Richards
• Victor Smith
• Kendell Thomas
• Barry Clarke
• Tyrone Williams