Amnesty International Report 1998 - Jamaica

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)   About 47 people, including at least five sentenced during the year, were under sentence of death. A prisoner was flogged. There were reports of ill-treatment. There were reports of fatal shootings by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances. P.J. Patterson was sworn in as Prime Minister following elections in December in which his party, the People's National Party, won a third successive term of office. In August the government issued instructions which impose time limits on petitions by death-row prisoners to the UN Human Rights Committee and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. According to these instructions, the government can execute a prisoner, even while a petition is still pending, if the time limits are not met by the prisoner or the international body considering the petition. In October the UN Human Rights Committee stated that these unilaterally imposed time limits could not be invoked as justification for any measure that would deviate from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (iccpr) or requests by the Committee for interim measures of protection. In October the government informed the UN Secretary-General that it was withdrawing as a State Party from the Optional Protocol to the iccpr, with effect from January 1998. Following this unprecedented withdrawal, the UN Human Rights Committee will no longer have jurisdiction to consider communications from individuals who allege that the government has violated rights guaranteed by the iccpr. Also in October, the UN Human Rights Committee examined Jamaica's periodic report of measures taken to implement the iccpr. The Committee expressed "utmost regret" at the government's denunciation of the Optional Protocol and affirmed that the government remained bound by the provisions of the iccpr and was still required to implement the Committee's recommendations in individual cases. The Committee expressed concern about a number of issues, including ill-treatment and deaths in custody; the "alarmingly high incidence of the use of firearms" by law enforcement officials; issues related to the administration of justice, including prolonged detention, the current state of legal aid representation and delays in judicial procedures, particularly in capital cases; corporal punishment; and prison conditions. It recommended that the government investigate all incidents of use of firearms by law enforcement officials and deaths in custody and that the results of these investigations, and of those into allegations of ill-treatment, be widely disseminated. It also urged the government to monitor the availability and quality of legal aid representation; closely observe standards related to pre-trial detention; ensure effective redress without reprisals to detainees and prisoners alleging ill-treatment by police and prison guards; and repeal legislation permitting corporal punishment. Many of these recommendations were consistent with concerns raised by Amnesty International. About 47 people, including at least five sentenced during the year, were under sentence of death. No one was executed but warrants of execution were read for six men – Christopher Brown, Lansford James, Leroy Lamey, Neville Lewis, Samuel Lindsay and Henry McKoy. All were moved to death cells adjacent to the gallows to await imminent execution. Their executions were stayed because each filed a petition for relief. For the first time in over 20 years, a person was whipped by court order. In February Errol Pryce was blindfolded, stripped below the waist, strapped to a barrel and flogged six times, reportedly in the presence of numerous prison staff. There were reports of ill-treatment in prisons. In March death-row inmates were reportedly beaten by prison guards at St Catherine's District Prison, following an escape attempt by four prisoners under sentence of death. Some required hospital treatment for their injuries. In addition to contraband, prisoners' legitimate property – including legal documents, bedding and toiletries – were confiscated by prison staff and burned. Prisoners, including death-row inmate Samuel Lindsay, were reportedly taunted and subjected to death threats by prison guards. In August, 16 prisoners died and about 40 others were injured during disturbances in St Catherine's District Prison and Kingston's General Penitentiary. The disturbances reportedly started after guards walked out of the prisons in protest at the Commissioner of Corrections' announcement of his intention to distribute condoms to guards and prisoners, in an effort to control the spread of hiv/aids. Among those killed by other prisoners were prisoners who were targeted because they were homosexuals, and others, like Dennie Chaplin, who were known to be at risk. Twenty-five prisoners were charged in connection with the deaths. Among the injured were eight prisoners, who were reportedly shot by law enforcement officials. Although the report of the Board of Enquiry set up to investigate the incident had not been published by the end of the year, its preliminary findings reportedly included that prison guards had been inadequately trained and equipped to handle prison disturbances. In November more prisoners were killed during further disturbances at Kingston's General Penitentiary and there were reports that many prisoners suffered injuries, including bone fractures, after beatings by prison guards. Conditions in some police lock-ups, places of detention and prisons were so overcrowded, insanitary and so poor overall that they amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. There were reports of fatal shootings by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances. In April Rohan Fraser, who was reportedly wanted by the police, was shot and killed by police in Tivoli Gardens, a community in West Kingston inhabited predominantly by members and supporters of the Jamaican Labour Party, one of the opposition parties. Initial police reports allegedly indicated that he was shot after he had aimed a gun at police, who were searching a house. Eye-witnesses, however, reported that he had his hands in the air when he was hit by 18 bullets fired by police. Three officers were later charged in connection with the killing. Rohan Fraser's death sparked demonstrations in Tivoli Gardens. On the day before and on the day of Rohan Fraser's funeral in May, there were violent clashes and exchanges of gunfire with the security forces in Tivoli Gardens. While much of what happened on these two days is in dispute, it is not disputed that, in the course of these clashes, shots were fired from a defence force helicopter and many shots were fired into houses inhabited by people who were reportedly not involved in the violence. As a result, several people were injured and three women and a six-year-old boy were shot and killed. The boy was killed when a bullet entered his room through a window and struck him in the head as he was jumping on his bed. According to reports, one woman was shot on her way home from a shop, one was shot on her way home from Rohan Fraser's funeral and one was killed when a bullet entered her home. Despite calls for a commission of inquiry, the Prime Minister reportedly concluded that the police should investigate. The findings of the police investigation had not been made public by the end of the year. Amnesty International wrote to the authorities after warrants of execution were read, urging the Governor General to exercise the prerogative of mercy and to ensure that no executions were carried out, and urging the government to take steps to abolish the death penalty. Amnesty International welcomed the setting up of the inquiry into incidents which culminated in the deaths and injury of prisoners in St Catherine's District Prison and Kingston's General Penitentiary in August. It called on the authorities to initiate full and impartial inquiries into the reported beatings of death-row prisoners in St Catherine's District Prison in March, and into the killings and beatings of prisoners in Kingston's General Penitentiary in November. It also called on the authorities to take steps to protect prisoners from ill-treatment; and to bring to justice those responsible for ill-treatment. In July the organization expressed concern about reports that prisoners had been taunted and threatened by guards. In October Amnesty International published a report, Jamaica: A summary of concerns – a briefing for the Human Rights Committee. This report expressed concern about Jamaica's failure to fully guarantee the rights enshrined in the iccpr. It highlighted concerns about death sentences being imposed after trials which fell short of international standards; the lack of legal aid to death-row prisoners filing appeals to the highest court and constitutional motions; and the instructions imposing unreasonable time limits for the completion of death-row prisoners' petitions to international human rights bodies. The report also highlighted concerns about corporal punishment; ill-treatment; killings by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances; conditions in jails and prisons; and laws punishing consensual sexual acts in private between adult males. The organization expressed concern that the government's denunciation of the Optional Protocol to the iccpr could cut off an avenue of international scrutiny for redress of human rights violations in Jamaica and that this unprecedented step could undermine the system of international human rights promotion and protection; it urged the government to reverse its decision.