Fort Augusta Correctional Centre

INMATES of the Fort Augusta Correctional Centre yesterday complained that they are constantly beaten by prison authorities, and appealed for more rehabilitation programmes to help them get the most out of their sentences.

Dem a beat we over here," one woman shouted to state minister of Finance and Planning, Fitz Jackson, during his visit to the female penal institution.

There have long been complaints from prison inmates that they are regularly beaten by prison officials. In May of 2000, soldiers and warders beat and injured more than 365 prisoners at the St Catherine District Prison in Spanish Town, 65 of whom were left with broken limbs and other serious injuries. Ex-inmates from other institutions have also alleged, over the years, that some beatings inflicted by prison officials are later reported as being doled out by other inmates.

In an effort to get a first-hand view of conditions inside the island's prisons, Jackson yesterday toured the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, the St Catherine facility and Fort Augusta. He was escorted around the three institutions by correctional department staff and got a close-up look at the living conditions and the rehabilitation programmes offered to inmates.

"Them a brutalise we, and all them tings deh need fi stop because we are all human beings. ...the officers tell us bad words and when we tell them back, them want to beat we," one irate prisoner yelled, as Jackson toured her dormitory.

Inmates also expressed concern about the lack of activities to keep them occupied inside the institution, a sore point which has also been raised for many years, despite attempts to introduce programmes ranging from agriculture to information technology.

"We need something fi do in yah, we can't just siddung so and waste time. We get six years fi drugs and there is nothing to do inside here," one inmate pleaded yesterday.

In response to the inmates' complaints, Jackson promised to look into the matter.

"I will see what I can do about it," he told them.

Their complaints aside, the state minister said he was impressed with the prisons toured.

"I am impressed with the cleanliness of the place....," he said. "(The island's prisons) must be seen as an extension of the society, more Jamaicans have to see the prisons as not just a place where some terrible people are locked up. They are a part of society."

And he appeared to share the inmates' view that more activities are needed within the penal institutions.

"The experience that they are exposed to can make them better citizens (and) when they get out there it will impact the quality of life," Jackson said.

At the Tower Street prison, he was introduced to inmates who have assumed the responsibility of teaching their peers. One tutor told the Observer that he was serving a 20-year sentence for a sexual offence and that his only mental relief was to help others learn.

"I am here for six months and I will be here for 20 years," he said sadly. "I find great joy in assisting these prisoners as many of them are good people who made mistakes in their youth."

Yesterday, Jackson also toured the woodwork, welding and tailoring departments of the Tower Street and St Catherine District prisons along with the hairdressing, dressmaking and craft sections of the Fort Augusta prison.

Fort Augusta now holds 342 women prisoners while 1,742 male inmates are housed at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre. There are 1,293 inmates at the St Catherine District Prison, 41 of whom are on death row.

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS