Shocked by the case of #NoelChambers? Let me explain how other people have spent DECADES in Jamaican prisons without ever having been tried or convicted.
THREAD: #UnfitToPlead
THREAD: #UnfitToPlead
If you are brought before Jamaican courts on a criminal charge you have the right to say if you are guilty or not guilty. You have the right and, depending on your choice, you are offered certain options.
You have to be of sound mind, however. Otherwise, you are #UnfitToPlead.
If you are unfit, you are locked away until you were lucid and stable enough to make a choice.
If you are unfit, you are locked away until you were lucid and stable enough to make a choice.
Decades ago, since you would be incarcerated without trial or conviction, you were held "at the Governor General's pleasure". The idea being that medical professionals would check in on you from time to time and see if you were now fit to plead guilty or not guilty.
And of course we would keep a list and make sure these persons were taken care of. Right. RIGHT!
Wrong.
Wrong.
Well, the law changed. And broadly, the reason for the change was that Courts, not Governors General, were best placed to oversee what was effectively a judicial process. People are now held "at the Court's pleasure".
The problem is, we didn't quite say what should happen to those held at the Governor General's pleasure. We left them stuck in prison. Men who need medical attention and are in a place ill-suited to provide it.
And so begins the long and arduous process of getting them out.
And so begins the long and arduous process of getting them out.
One by one.
Since then, records have been misplaced or burned to a crisp. Family members have forgotten them. The world has moved on. And men like #NoelChambers are imprisoned for decades and live in conditions amounting to torture without a trial, a conviction, and a sentence.
Since then, records have been misplaced or burned to a crisp. Family members have forgotten them. The world has moved on. And men like #NoelChambers are imprisoned for decades and live in conditions amounting to torture without a trial, a conviction, and a sentence.
@kenyatta_pow feel free to add.
