HEAD of the Department of Correctional Services June Spence-Jarrett was yesterday fired after appearing before the Public Services Commission (PSC).

Spence-Jarrett had come under heavy flak after a commission of enquiry into the death by fire of seven wards of the State-run Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in St Ann found correctional authorities culpable.

Justice Paul Harrison, who chaired the enquiry, had described Spence-Jarrett as “uncaring and inhumane” for taking the decision to house 23 girls in a dormitory fit to be occupied by no more than five persons.

According to Harrison’s report, Spence-Jarrett was negligent.

“I find that in March 2008, Mrs Spence-Jarrett, then deputy commissioner, unwisely did make the fateful decision to house the 23 girls in the office dormitory measuring 20 feet by 12 feet and with seven double bunk beds only, containing 14 mattresses. That decision was a patent breach of the duty to promote the best interests of children, violated the statutory requirements and was accordingly negligent in all circumstances,” the report stated.

Harrison also said Spence-Jarrett was evasive and less than truthful when she testified before the commission.

The seven girls — Ann-Marie Samuels, Nerrissa King, Rachael King, Kaychell Nelson, Shauna-Lee Kerr, Georgina Saunders and Stephanie Smith — succumbed to burn injuries sustained in the fire. The girls had been in lockdown at the facility.

Nerrissa King, Rachael King, Samuels, Nelson and Kerr died at Armadale, while Saunders and Smith died in hospital days after.

Attempts to reach Spence-Jarrett for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

Yesterday, Carolyn Gomes, executive director of human rights lobby group Jamaicans For Justice, who has been advocating Spence-Jarrett’s dismissal ever since the contents of the report were made public, was full of praise for the PSC.

“I am heartened that the PSC has taken this important step in insisting on accountability,” Gomes said.

However, she was also adamant that firing Spence-Jarrett was not the only measure needed to repair the unacceptable conditions in which wards of the State are housed and treated in the country.

“This is not the end; it is just the first step in fixing the system,” Gomes said.

Spence-Jarrett spent two years as the head of the correctional services after taking over from former permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security Major Richard Reese.

Reese has since been demoted to the post of director general in local government department at the Office of the Prime Minister. It’s not clear whether Reese’s transfer is related to the Armadale incident.