KINGSTON, Jamaica — The demands of an enraged British parliamentarian that Jamaica allows its natives incarcerated in the UK to complete their sentences here or pay the expenses of their imprisonment in that country, has drawn ire among OBSERVER ONLINE readers.

Philip Hollobone, a Member of Parliament in the British Conservative Party, is upset that the Jamaican Government refused his country’s £25-million offer to help fund construction of a new prison, allowing nearly 600 Jamaicans incarcerated in the UK to be returned to the island to complete their sentences.

Read: Angry British MP demands Jamaica takes its prisoners

As the news broke, frenzied Jamaicans lashed out at the MP for his suggestion that Jamaica pays, saying his country owed the island for decades of enslavement.

However, some readers believed that it was inevitable that Jamaicans imprisoned in the UK would be deported so the Government could devise a strategy to work with the UK government in building a prison to house them here.

Below are some of the arguments of OBSERVER ONLINE readers.

stevevalenti23

You, your ancestors and your descendants have benefited, are benefitting and will continue to benefit from the forced extorted labour of the foreparents of some of those prisoners. All we’ve heard is that we should move on! Well you shut up and move on! Lets see if that soothes your 5 minutes of grief because it sure doesn’t soothe the 430 years of grief you blokes caused while you were extorting free labour from my ancestors to build Britain.

Its you and your ancestors that owe Jamaica and Jamaicans for the slave labour u used to enrich Britain! Start paying that bill. Then maybe u can talk to me about a bill for prisoners.

Peterlane

Tell the minister to send us the Billions UK owe us in reparations then we might consider.

Allan Stewart

Suck it up old chap, you and your fore-parents built your empire on the backs of Jamaicans with slavery and cheap labour — so what are you crying about? You owe us “Big Time” LOL.

Sharon Watson

The arrogance of this man. I hope for once the Jamaican government has some backbone and not bow to pressure. Let the British government finance the incarceration of Jamaicans from repatriation money owed to Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. Lest we forget, the British Empire was built on the exploitation of sugar plantation slaves.

LAN

So our former slave masters are angry that we did not take their gift of jail!!!!

Tony Henry

Hard working Jamaicans & dependents pay taxes in the UK, so the UK should take the rough with the smooth.

Mastersgt

This is a serious situation because they send these jokers home to us and we have to accept them. The problem is they didn’t commit any crime in Jamaica so they cannot be charged here.

I would have take the money, take the prisoners, build a prison to put our prisoners in and hope that these deportees rehabilitate themselves.

Bobo

The Jamaican government should make a deal for the full cost to build the prison… Those prisoners will find their way back here at some point…

Juju Brown  (in response to Bobo)

Agree!… The full cost for the prison and 10yrs of maintenance money until we figure out how to do it on our own.

Arhazivory

If the crimes were committed there then it makes sense for them to stay in prison there. They’re going to deport them upon their release anyway.

Aloysius Flyte

You can’t blame people for wanting to get rid of foreign criminals who are a burden on their society and equally one can’t begrudge our Govt for not taking a deal which would be detrimental to the people of Jamaica. The UK government can deport anyone it wishes, but what it can’t do is expect the other government to incur the cost of incarcerating these criminals.

Free Jamaica

The offer of the prison was to allow those prisons to be rehabilitated for the Jamaican society because if they serve the full sentence in the UK then after its over they deport them to Jamaica, then the prisoners would have problems reintegrating into the society.

l mckoy

The problem is not as simple as it may appear. To determine what is reasonable, there are some basic questions that need to be addressed, such as: which country created these criminals; what will it cost Brittan to keep the criminals for their full prison term; what will it cost Jamaica if the prisoners were to serve the balance of their term in Jamaica; what will happen to the criminals after they have served their term in either country. Only by answering such questions honestly can a satisfactory solution be reached.

normanlee

If they want to clear the prisons, all they have to do is simply immediately deport them to Jamaica and to all the other countries whose nationals are imprisoned there. The Brits have to make the choice — even if they have to change their laws — Immediately set them free to their countries or keep them and pay!