Mayhem in the prisons, society

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I AM deeply ashamed and troubled by the reported brutality of the agents of the state who are in charge of the prisons. I have never seen a prison from the inside of a cell, however, I have had vivid descriptions of what local prison cells are like. In general, the conditions described are subhuman.

The people in our prisons are relatives, friends and/or associates. Some are innocent, some are guilty, some are mild mannered and some are brutal. Some have done more time than their sentences demanded due to the bungling of the prison authorities and/or systemic inefficiencies.

A lot of Jamaicans seem to feel that they are insulated from prison. This is a mistaken notion.

If you drive a motor vehicle and are unfortunate enough, you could go to prison for manslaughter. If you are unlucky enough you can be wrongfully accused and go to prison.

Having said all of that, I do believe that if we are prepared to sanction the use of brutality on those who are incarcerated, then we continue to beg for more trouble than we can possibly imagine. If we continue to animalise and de-humanise felons, and then release them into society, we should not be surprised at the level of crime and violence that abounds.

Violence begets violence. The continued practice of the use of violence by the security forces and the prison authorities to deal with criminality only serves to escalate the problem.

We need to wake up and stop embracing the use of state violence to attempt to solve the problem of crime and violence. This method has only served to exacerbate the problem. We have been at it for more than 30 years. Let us embrace a new way of dealing with this problem. We have to substitute brains for brawn. More anon.

I am, etc.,

R.O. KNIBBS

Montego Bay

E-mail: rok@cwjamaica.com

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