KINGSTON, Jamaica — Seventy-eight per cent of the 2,747 respondents to a recent OBSERVER ONLINE poll said that they do not believe that convicts should be allowed to record and sell music to the public.

Opposition Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna recently spurred nationwide debate over whether the music of incarcerated dancehall star Vybz Kartel should be played on Jamaican radio. Hanna reportedly received death threats after calling for the entertainer’s music to be banned.

New songs from the artiste have continued to be released despite him being incarcerated since 2011.

Jamaicans have long speculated about whether or not the artiste has been recording music while imprisoned. Kartel and various production collaborators have, however, repeatedly denied the allegations.

State minister in the Ministry of National Security, Pearnel Charles Jr subsequently said that while music and the creative arts are important tools of rehabilitation, which are facilitated by radio stations at the Tower Street and St Catherine prisons, rehabilitation does not include illegal recordings and “any such activities are prohibited, and punitive action will be taken against any officer or inmate found involved and in breach of these regulations”.

Twenty-one per cent of the respondents believed convicts should be allowed to release music to the public.

Artiste Jah Cure is one notable convict who recorded and released music while behind bars.