Dear Editor,
In February 2014, an inter-ministerial process was initiated to address the situation relating to mentally ill persons who are held in the correctional system.
The Civil Procedure Rules of the Supreme Court require that a current psychiatric report of the applicant's mental status be made available to the court as one of the requirements for a judicial review of inmates held at the court's pleasure.
Accordingly, the commissioner of corrections was mandated to seek to have all persons without current psychiatric assessments duly assessed and psychiatric reports available. It was also agreed that the executive director of the Legal Aid Council would be engaged to secure appropriate legal representation for these individuals, and that, as soon as all required paperwork was in place to ground applications to the court, the chief justice was to be notified so that court sittings would be held to facilitate the hearing of these matters.
Upon the Department of Corrections providing a list of the names of inmates for whom up-to-date psychiatric reports were available, in March 2015, the Legal Aid Council engaged senior counsel Hugh Wilson and Nancy Anderson of the Norman Manley Law School Legal Aid Clinic to provide legal representation for the nine individuals on that list. Other legal counsel who are on the Legal Aid Council's panel of attorneys will be engaged as additional psychiatric reports are made available.
The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Department of Corrections, through the Ministry of National Security, is also currently reviewing the cases of mentally ill individuals presently held in custody without trial who have been deemed unfit to plead, with the initial emphasis being on those who have already been in custody for a period which exceeds the maximum sentence that -- had they been tried -- could have been imposed on them for the offence for which they have been charged.
The minister has instructed that arrangements are to be made, in consultation with the Office of the DPP, for applications to be made to the relevant courts for those cases to be relisted, with a view to the cases being dismissed and releases effected in the interest of justice. The minister has also directed that the ministries of health and labour/social security are to be engaged in this process, to ensure that, on the release of these citizens from custody, appropriate arrangements are in place, whether through their families or otherwise, to secure their access to mental health care and basic well-being.
The Ministry of Justice intends to continue to pay attention to the status of mentally ill inmates in Jamaica from a human rights standpoint, given their vulnerability and the challenges that their presence poses, both to themselves and to others, in correctional facilities that are not mental health institutions
Ministry of Justice
2 Oxford Road
Kingston 5
www.moj.gov.jm
In February 2014, an inter-ministerial process was initiated to address the situation relating to mentally ill persons who are held in the correctional system.
The Civil Procedure Rules of the Supreme Court require that a current psychiatric report of the applicant's mental status be made available to the court as one of the requirements for a judicial review of inmates held at the court's pleasure.
Accordingly, the commissioner of corrections was mandated to seek to have all persons without current psychiatric assessments duly assessed and psychiatric reports available. It was also agreed that the executive director of the Legal Aid Council would be engaged to secure appropriate legal representation for these individuals, and that, as soon as all required paperwork was in place to ground applications to the court, the chief justice was to be notified so that court sittings would be held to facilitate the hearing of these matters.
Upon the Department of Corrections providing a list of the names of inmates for whom up-to-date psychiatric reports were available, in March 2015, the Legal Aid Council engaged senior counsel Hugh Wilson and Nancy Anderson of the Norman Manley Law School Legal Aid Clinic to provide legal representation for the nine individuals on that list. Other legal counsel who are on the Legal Aid Council's panel of attorneys will be engaged as additional psychiatric reports are made available.
The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Department of Corrections, through the Ministry of National Security, is also currently reviewing the cases of mentally ill individuals presently held in custody without trial who have been deemed unfit to plead, with the initial emphasis being on those who have already been in custody for a period which exceeds the maximum sentence that -- had they been tried -- could have been imposed on them for the offence for which they have been charged.
The minister has instructed that arrangements are to be made, in consultation with the Office of the DPP, for applications to be made to the relevant courts for those cases to be relisted, with a view to the cases being dismissed and releases effected in the interest of justice. The minister has also directed that the ministries of health and labour/social security are to be engaged in this process, to ensure that, on the release of these citizens from custody, appropriate arrangements are in place, whether through their families or otherwise, to secure their access to mental health care and basic well-being.
The Ministry of Justice intends to continue to pay attention to the status of mentally ill inmates in Jamaica from a human rights standpoint, given their vulnerability and the challenges that their presence poses, both to themselves and to others, in correctional facilities that are not mental health institutions
Ministry of Justice
2 Oxford Road
Kingston 5
www.moj.gov.jm