THERE had been a serious disturbance at the General Penitentiary at Tower Street the week before: one prison warder was badly injured in the attempt to bring the prisoners under control; there were complaints that the cadre of prison warders was not sufficient to handle the situation; and the role of the trade union in the prison was being questioned.

So when the House of Representatives met on Wednesday, April 11, 1945, the situation in the country’s prisons took centre stage.

The matter arose from a motion moved by Government member, Frank Pixley of Central Kingston, seeking approval of the House for a provision of £3,540 to enable the employment of 30 additional warders at the General Penitentiary.

The resolution, Pixley told the House, was made more urgent by the fact that an incident had taken place at the prison a week earlier resulting in “very serious injury” to one of the prison warders.

The main problem, Pixley said, was that there were only 190 warders employed in the prison, 85 of whom were not available for supervisory duties, leaving 105 to supervise hundreds of prisoners.

Conditions in the prison, he said, were “not as they ought to be, because the warders are left at the mercy of the prisoners”.

Lynden Newland, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member from Central St Andrew, rose in support of the motion, saying the additional warders were badly needed, and indeed, asserted that even more should be recruited, but conceded that perhaps the country could only afford the additional 30 at that time.

At the same time, he pleaded for “less politics” to be involved in the administration of the penitentiary, as “… you may increase the personnel by a thousand, the unsatisfactory position will continue to exist”.

Clifford Campbell, JLP member from Western Westmoreland, in supporting the motion, said that under the existing situation, the ratio of warders to prisoners was about 1:40, “which jeopardises not only his life, but the welfare of his family, which may be contingent upon his well-being, and it stands to reason that we ought to do justice to those men by protecting them”.

People’s National Party (PNP) member, Florizel Glasspole, donning his trade union hat, told the House that he had been going into the prison for the past two years, and from that vantage point vouched that the ratio at the time was close to 1:60. He therefore called for 50 additional warders to be employed, instead of the 30 being proposed in the resolution.

Pixley was not impressed by Glasspole’s role as a union leader in the prisons. He heatedly asserted that “no union representative has any right whatever to enter a public institution!”

He said he was surprised when he visited the prison in an official capacity, “as minister of the department” to find representatives there “of some alleged union”. That situation, he charged, “tends to undermine discipline!”

The Government, he said, was intent on seeing that order was maintained in the prisons, warning that “we do not intend to make any representative of any union, even the member for Eastern Kingston (Glasspole), go inside that institution and interfere!”

Wendell Benjamin, PNP member from Southern Manchester, was not enthusiastic about the motion. He argued that it was “a reflection on the colony at this stage of our civilisation and our development that we should have to provide 30 extra warders”. It was the duty of the elected members, he said, “to see that we do whatever we can to minimise crime in this country”.

The problem, he said, was twofold: lack of economic opportunities and inadequate education. And arising from those two factors, he said there were responsible people in the society “who go out and try to incite the people to riot and rebellion, and drunkenness and debauchery”.

He therefore called on those in positions of leadership to “take steps in the educational field to see that the youth of our country are not polluted, rather than making voluminous speeches supporting a motion to provide 30 extra warders for the prisons!”

But Pixley firmly rebutted the latter assertion, maintaining that the Government fully intended to hire additional warders, “for in every civilised country there will always be prisons, warders, prisoners and crimes!”

Alexander Bustamante added a bit of levity to the proceedings, reminding the House (to much laughter) that he was in a unique position, having had “experience in prison that no one in this country has had!”

Having been in prison twice, including a stint “down at Rae Town” (GP), he asserted, “I have very good reason to support the resolution… that extra guards be given to the prison”.

With “The Chief” putting his seal of approval on the motion with that colourful retelling of his experience, the motion was passed.