Amnesty International Report 2004 - Bahamas

Covering events from January - December 2003

Conditions of detention amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; the government announced reforms in response to the report of the Prison Reform Commission. Asylum-seekers and migrants continued to be held in conditions amounting to arbitrary detention. There was continued concern that asylum-seekers were returned to their countries of origin without access to a full and fair refugee determination procedure. Instances of police brutality were reported. Death sentences continued to be imposed; no executions were carried out.

Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment

At the end of 2003 there were at least 27 people on death row. Death sentences continued to be imposed by the courts; no executions were carried out.

The Court of Appeal had not ruled by the end of the year on whether the cat-o'-nine-tails (a whip of several knotted cords) or the rod should be used in carrying out sentences of flogging.

Prison conditions

In November the government announced reforms, including classification and employment schemes, in response to the February report of the Prison Reform Commission. Areas highlighted for urgent reform included overcrowding, training, sanitation and rehabilitation. According to the report, 478 in every 100,000 people – one in every 200 Bahamians – were imprisoned in 2003.

Conditions in some detention facilities amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Concerns in Fox Hill prison included severe overcrowding, medical neglect, inadequate exercise provision and "slopping-out" (detainees having to empty buckets used as toilets). Many prisoners awaiting trial continued to be detained for long periods, in many cases, over 24 months. In November the Attorney General announced a review of the Bail Act and other measures to decrease delays in hearing criminal cases.

Immigrants were reportedly arbitrarily detained and received inadequate health care. There were also allegations of beatings and sexual abuse at the Carmichael Immigrant Detention Centre. Children held at the centre were denied access to education, exercise and adequate family contact. The government stated that it would consider the recommendations put forward by AI in its report highlighting these concerns published in November.

• There was no further progress in the investigation of the death in custody of a Polish national in August 2002, reportedly as a result of medical neglect.

• There were reports that two detainees aged 14 and 15 died in Willamae Pratt Centre for Girls on 2 November. The girls were reportedly locked in their cells, shackled to their beds, when a fire broke out at the centre. An investigation headed by Archbishop Drexel Gomez had not reported its findings by the end of the year. An inquest into the deaths was ordered.

Asylum-seekers

Asylum-seekers from countries including Haiti and Cuba continued to be forcibly returned without access to a full and fair refugee determination procedure, in violation of international law.

Police ill-treatment and shootings

There were continuing reports of ill-treatment of detainees by police officers and several fatal shootings.

• On 6 August police shot Giselle Glinton in disputed circumstances. The police alleged that they were under fire when the fatal shot was fired. However, witnesses claimed that police opened fire without provocation as Giselle Glinton rode pillion on a motorcycle. An internal investigation had not reported by the end of the year.

• In October, the inquest commenced into the fatal shooting by police of Jermaine Alexander Mackey on 5 December 2002. Witnesses claimed that he was stopped by police and shot several times in the head and chest as he ran away. The inquest had not concluded by the end of 2003.

Legislative and constitutional reform

There were concerns about the draft Anti-Terrorism Act 2003 which proposed a radical extension of the scope of the death penalty to cover "terrorist acts" resulting in death. Concerns were expressed by lawyers and others that the extremely broad definition of the new offence of committing a "terrorist act" risked seriously undermining fundamental rights including freedom of expression, assembly and association and that – despite a provision to safeguard the right to demonstrate or strike – legitimate, peaceful activities of individuals or organizations could be criminalized. The bill also proposed introducing the offence of "soliciting and giving support to terrorist groups", punishable by 20 years' imprisonment.