Attorney-at-law Nancy Anderson confers with Dr Lloyd Barnett, chairman of the Independent Council for Human Rights, about Human Rights Link, a newsletter published by the council. They were attending the opening of a two-day seminar workshop on Human Rights for correctional officers at the Medallion Hall Hotel, Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett yesterday rapped UWI students who participated in the beating of an alleged homosexual on the Mona campus on Tuesday, reminding them that they owed their education largely to the public purse, and as such, much was expected of them.

Describing their actions as "irrational", the human rights advocate said the student mobbing was an indictment on how youth in Jamaica were being socialised.

"It is an indictment on the way in which we are growing up, that persons who are supposed to be at an advanced state of education can react with that emotional fervour and lack of rational thinking to an incident like that," he said.

To make matters worse, Barnett pointed out that those involved in the mobbing were "persons who are specially privileged and have been granted, at great public expense, the opportunity to further their education".

Added Barnett: "And yet they became involved in an incident in which, on the basis of mere accusation, they sought to injure a human being. And not only injure a human being, but also attacked the security forces who sought to bring order to the scene".

Barnett was speaking at the opening of a human rights seminar workshop for correctional officers, jointly sponsored by the department of correctional services and the Independent Council for Human Rights.

Last Tuesday evening, the students beat the 22-year-old alleged homosexual man, claiming he had propositioned a male student inside one of the campus' bathrooms. The students also hurled bottles, stones and wood at the cops who arrived at the scene to rescue the young man. The officers had to fire a shot in the air to ward off the students.

Turning to the business of the day, Barnett told the correctional officers in attendance at the workshop that they would encounter grave difficulties, and would sometimes see their efforts at rehabilitation being condemned.

He also pointed out that an important marker in the assessment of civilisation and civilised society, and how people are treated by each other was in how "persons who are the least demanding of good treatment" are treated.

Dr Barnett reminded the correctional officers that every prisoner would eventually return to the society.

"The question we have to ask ourselves is, will he or she become a better person when they leave than when they entered? Will he or she become an enemy of the society hostile to other persons or be reformed and able to take his or her place in the society?

"And the answer to that question depends on the success or failure of the correctional services," the human rights advocate said, adding that "this great responsibility lies upon members of this service".

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