KINGSTON, Jamaica— Human rights organisation, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), says the death of Noel Chambers could have been avoided and is demanding reform of correctional facilities.

 According to a report by the Independent Commissions of Investigations (INDECOM) released this week, Chambers, an 81-year-old man, reportedly died in prison after 40 years of incarceration without trial.

JFJ said “Noel Chambers could have been with us today, yet just shy of 5 months ago, he died in deplorable conditions under the “watchful” eye of the State”.

The organisation expressed  that Chambers’s case is not an anomaly.

 The INDECOM report acknowledged that another 146 persons with mental illness were currently being held in prison without trial.

“For years there have been calls for reform of correctional facilities, from infrastructural to behavioural changes. Yet, here we are again. Another loss due to neglect and inhumanity,” the JFJ said.

“We demand better.”