Former justice minister Herbert Volney has issued a warning to the People’s Partnership Government that if they continue to keep prisoners like caged animals the prison system “will explode like a bomb.”
This sentiment was also expressed by Vision of Mission head Wayne Chance.
Both men believe the prison system is not geared towards restorative justice but “criminalisation.”
Volney was commenting on the recent jailbreak of Allan Martin, Christopher Selby and Hassan Atwell, and the killing of PC Sherman Maynard.
On Thursday, Volney spoke about the controversial Section 34, which he said was designed to address the backlog of court cases that had fallen through the cracks.
Section 34 was one clause in the Administration of Justice Act, which was drafted to implement a pre-trial proceeding intended to simplify and shorten criminal proceedings.
Following its proclamation, Section 34 would have allowed some accused to apply for charges against them to be dropped if the offences had been committed more than ten years.
It would have opened the door for Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson to walk free without trial, which resulted in Section 34 being repealed.
Volney said while the entire act was not repealed and remained on file as a statute to be proclaimed, the Ministry of Justice had failed to deal with overcrowding, which is exacerbated by a broken criminal justice system.
“The bill was drafted to assist in prison reform which still remains in a mess. I am very disappointed that with my demise as minister that my successors did not follow through with all the work I had done. They did not grasp the problems in the criminal justice or penal systems,” Volney said.
Volney said the Justice Ministry had committed injustices to prisoners awaiting trial.
He said Justice Minister Prakash Ramadhar was caught “napping,” and in any other country he would have had to resign.
In 2013, Volney said he came up with a blueprint for criminal justice and prison reform which would have cut the court time of cases being heard from five years to five months.
“It would have also served to remove at least 40 per cent of the work of a magistrate off his list so they can deal with summary justice, which is in dire backlog.”
Volney said Section 34 would have addressed the backlog of cases.
“This was no case to help any supporter of the Government but to provide a facility for oppressed people (prisoners).” He said Section 34 had good intentions but became a political issue.
Before Section 34 was repealed, Volney said Cabinet took an unofficial decision for the President to pardon 50 prisoners which would have provided a release value and reduce overcrowding. “This was never done.”
Chance: prison system an industry of criminalisation
Chance said the prisons were facing its darkest period.
“The prison is a set volcano waiting to erupt. It’s on the brink because of overcrowding, inhumane conditions, and delay of trials. And just before it erupts you get little lava pelting out. Atwell, Martin and Selby are that lava.”
He described the prison system as “an industry of criminalisation.”
‘We’re creating criminals’
Volney called on the Government and Chief Justice to conduct an audit in the Remand Yard to bring closure to these matters in a legal way without trial.
“There is provision in the law for compensation to victims of crime. If a person has spent more time in the Remand Yard incarcerated awaiting trial for petty matters such as house breaking, marijuana possession and child support, than he would have gotten as a sentence, if convicted, that person should be released forthwith.”
Volney feels prisoners with petty matters who have been waiting ten years for a trial should be immediately freed.
“Give them compensation for keeping them so long. The State has to show a compassionate face. Unless the State does that, it’s going to erupt. It is going to get worse. Locking them up like animals has created this conundrum in the system. The system is creating criminals out of humans...people who are not even convicted are being made into criminals because of the treatment there. It is a bomb waiting to explode. If this is not dealt with soon, the worst is yet to come.”
Volney said there are over 500 murder cases awaiting trial which would take the country’s nine criminal judges “over ten years to deal with what is already in the system using the maximum production of the courts.” There are also hundreds of other cases in the system, he said.
Volney feels the Port-of-Spain prison should be closed since security was lax.
“I could tell you that I had a vision for a new prison in Arouca with recreational facilities, supermarket, community college and an assembling factory where prisoners could have worked and earned money. But nothing was implemented.”