~ If inmates disturb operations ~
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Justice Roland Duncan says he has no intention of creating the Pointe Blanche Resort and Spa at the Pointe Blanche prison, and if he has to he will enforce zero tolerance again to put down any disturbance at any institution of detention.
Duncan told Parliamentarians on Thursday what he has said publicly before: that he has no intention of meeting with any inmate association, especially considering that these prisoners often create the negative situations at the Pointe Blanche prison.
MPs of the opposition United People's (UP) party requested the meeting so Duncan could provide an explanation about the recent prison "fracas," health and hygiene issues at the prison, staffing plans and how restricted items manage to enter the prison, among other things.
Duncan said the prisoners were conducting violent protests and were in favour of sentence reduction as opposed to being moved. Their solution, Duncan said, "is 'don't move us, let us go' and I question whether society wants or can permit that, when people who have been convicted are now in a position to force government to let them go because of a situation they created in prison."
He said resistance was thrown up when efforts were made to address the prison issues. "The inmates are abusing the system and that is why I refuse to negotiate or talk to inmates, period," Duncan said.
He acknowledged that the prison had some issues: the cells need repairing, technical installations, office spaces for personnel, etc., but stressed that everything required funding. He explained that when he took office he found the plans for prison improvement, but no money to execute these plans. He said his ministry was short NAf. 4 million for a renovation that costs NAf. 8 million.
Duncan said NAf. 4 million had come from other projects in the Justice Ministry, money that was reserved to help St. Maarten in meeting its Justice obligations for country. "It's simple to say we need to fix this, but my ministry 'lost' NAf. 9 million in the 2012 budget that we had proposed."
He also informed the Central Committee how he intended to move forward after the court ruled in favour of the inmates recently, but stressed that the court had failed to put the matter into proper context. If prisoners are part of a work programme and they strike, they are upsetting their own re-integration process, he said.
For example, while the judge indicated that prisoners have the right to strike and while prisoners complain about being fed, the prison kitchen staff comprises 12 people: three prison employees and nine prisoners. If the prisoners strike and the kitchen is without the nine prisoners, food will take a little longer to get to the same striking prisoners.
Kitchen duty, like many others in the prison, is a work programme Duncan explained, not forced labour. "Well I will not 'force' them anymore," Duncan said. "We will hire five people for the kitchen so the number of prisoners working in the kitchen will be reduced, because I was ordered by the court to provide food on time. If I can help it, there won't be any prisoners working in the kitchen. Prisoners are not employees so they don't have a right to strike, and even so they can't do so at anytime they want," he said.
Concerning the claims that water quality is unhealthy, Duncan acknowledged that the pipes were old, but said the prisoners also had done damage to these pipes. In any case, he said GEBE and the Inspector of Public Health checked the water quality three weeks ago and while reports indicate that people "can get ill," nobody is getting sick from this now.
Numbers
Minister Duncan provided relevant numbers based on the questions of Parliamentarians:
the Pointe Blanche prison has two social workers, a doctor visits once a week and is on call for emergencies.
The Pointe Blanche prison is at capacity with 134 men, and three women. The minister said plans were being looked at to move the women to another institution, but he did not elaborate.
The Simpson Bay detention facility currently has 35 inmates and Philipsburg has 12.
The Pointe Blanche prison should only have one person left from Curaçao by the end of June.
St. Maarten has no institution to house mentally ill inmates, but there are plans to construct a psychiatric section at the Pointe Blanche prison.
"The Box" in Cay Hill also will have a youth detention wing with 15 beds: 10 for boys and five for girls.
There are 30 prison guards with 12 BAVPOL personnel in support, along with a number of private guards. Duncan said 21 additional people had been interviewed as potential prison guards. However, that number was "decimated" when a majority of these 21 failed their medical tests. It is estimated that 50 new guards will be needed when The Box comes online, Duncan said.
Approximately NAf. 480,000 has been spent for prison guard overtime for the year so far and approximately NAf. 139,000 is left for overtime payment for the remainder of this year.
Duncan further disclosed that four persons had been appointed at the Pointe Blanche prison as unit heads, to form "a sort of" management team for a period of six months. They have been operating for about three weeks. He said that although some current employees felt bypassed by these appointments, other positions would become available to which they could be appointed.
In addition, the current director of the prison will be going on pension at the end of this year. His replacement has been identified already and should be on-island in August. According to Duncan, the person in question is from St. Maarten and was convinced to return home.
Conflict
Several MPs, on the initiative of MP Lloyd Richardson, called for some of the minister's answers to be given in a closed door session or in writing, citing confidential and security issues. Richardson also pointed out that the issue could lead to certain MPs having to excuse themselves from the discussion considering that these MPs and/or close affiliates have provided and do provide services to the prison and this could constitute a conflict of interest.
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