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ACTIVIST Nazma Muller wants prison inmates to be able to access cannabis to ease their stress of being incarcerated. But Prisons Commissioner Dennis Pulchan said this could not be allowed as marijuana and cigarettes were still illegal items in prisons.
Newsday met Muller on Friday at the Golden Grove prison in Arouca after she had an hour-long meeting with Pulchan.
"We talked about removing cigarettes, phones and 30 grammes of ganja from the banned list, to make life easier for the remandees." She vowed to raise the matter with Minister of National Security Stuart Young.
Muller said more psychologists are needed owing to the prevalence of mental issues in the prison.
“Three years ago Mr Pulchan asked the Government to have ten psychologists to deal with the 4,000 inmates plus the prison officers. To date, he only has one to deal with officers and inmates.” This was confirmed by Pulchan.
While 900 low-risk inmates were identified for release during the covid19 pandemic, she lamented none had been freed yet.
“We did ask about ventilation and airing time. He is going to look at improving the number of times.
“We did point out that vitamin D is very important to deal with the covid and they are going to look at that.”
Muller said she was glad to see inmates playing sports on the compound.
Pulchan said gang rivalries have complicated the airing of inmates, but airing met UN standards of one hour, sometimes more.
While constrained to manage many inmates, he said: "I'd love to give more."
“Once again, we want to emphasise and reiterate what former inspector of prisons Daniel Khan pointed out a few years ago: remandees are not the responsibility of the Prison Service. Internationally, in all jurisdictions, once you are remanded and you are to face a trial, that is the duty of the police or the Sheriff’s office.
Muller said the prison service was constrained by how it could help remandees, even if held for 15 years. "Because they may be innocent, so what are you rehabilitating them from?"
Recalling her own stay on remand in the nearby women’s prison, she said, “We were all shut down in our cells for 23 or 24 hours per day."
Saying inmates lamented being sold warm soft drinks, she said this was raised with Pulchan. “We offered to get private sponsorship of a chiller.
“In terms of the diet, they keep giving them some kind of low-quality turkey and meat, so we recommended no meat. Switch to legumes and healthier meals.
“The men are receiving very, very bad meals. My food was okay. It was vegetarian, but the men all complained about the meat."
Pulchan said his superintendents taste all meals before they are served and would not distribute them to inmates if unpalatable.
Muller discussed toilets and showers with Pulchan. “In the 21st century, I was using a pail, a bucket, to defecate and urinate in, a pail without a handle.
“He said there’s a new remand centre being built, for $53 million. That facility will have toilets.”
Pulchan said remand was being rebuilt with toilets with to be first put in the south and north wings.
Muller said the judiciary had begun to build a structure to facilitate court hearings on-site but construction had now seemingly stopped, while container offices were used instead.
“In terms of legal aid and the Public Defenders Office, inmates would like two lawyers, maybe twice a week, to come in.
“Legal Aid said they cannot come because prisons are not allowing them in, but the prison is saying they are allowed to come, so we have to find out what’s going on from Legal Aid and the Public Defender’s Office because there are a lot of people who need legal representation, in their at a cost of $15,000-$20,000 a month.
“They cannot access bail. They have not had a hearing. They have not had access to a lawyer. So these are the issues we raised.”
Pulchan said a covid19 breakout was now under control and attorneys are welcome to visit. Four affected inmates were now at other state facilities, he said.
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