THE Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) yesterday confirmed that it had rejected an offer from former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to build a prison to house Jamaicans serving time in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2008.
Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon Mike Henry, who had accompanied former Prime Minister Bruce Golding on the eventful trip to London in May 2008, recalled the meeting at which the offer was rejected.
“Bruce Golding told him that the people who were incarcerated by Britain in British jails were their responsibility, not ours,” Henry remembered Golding responding to Brown’s proposal.
Henry said that he was very upset with the proposal, as he could not agree to building a prison in Jamaica to hold Jamaicans who had committed crimes abroad.
“We told him that we would discuss the issue of Jamaicans being deported from the UK, but not any agreement for Jamaicans serving time in British prisons to be sent home to serve their time as our responsibility,” Henry said.
National Security Minister Peter Bunting has defended the Jamaican Government’s decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Britain on the offer.
Bunting has insisted that the deal will offer substantial benefits to Jamaica, if it is implemented.
“I don’t believe that, as an independent Jamaica for over 50 years… we should have thousands of Jamaicans exposed to the conditions under which we keep them (in prison) now: Which Parliament is going to say, this year we are not going to build schools, roads in order to build a prison?” he stated.
‘I Did Not Embrace UK Prison Deal’ – Golding
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Published:Friday | October 2, 2015Livern Barrett
File
Golding
Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding has revealed that he was offered a British prison deal similar to the one announced in Kingston this week by leader of the United Kingdom David Cameron, but said he did not embrace the idea for several reasons.
While making it clear that he did not have sufficient information to form a view on whether the prison deal is good for Jamaica at this time, Golding explained that he did not embrace the offer when it was broached by then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in “2007 or 2008” for two main reasons.
Golding, in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, revealed that during discussions with his British counterpart at the time, he indicated that he could not embrace the deal primarily because the inmates they were seeking to transfer were Jamaicans who had been convicted in the UK for crimes committed there.
“And, therefore, they were not Jamaica’s responsibility, they were Britain’s responsibility,” he asserted, adding that he was of the view that Brown appreciated the point he was making.
“We were not in a position to assume that responsibility from Britain and that’s where the discussions ended. I never had any further discussions on the matter,” Golding said.
Another reason the former prime minister said he did not embrace the deal was that given overcrowding and other problems in the nation’s prisons, he was “uncomfortable” with a situation that would create two types of penal institutions here.
“One facility at a certain standard, housing prisoners sent from England and a different facility, at a much lower standard, housing prisoners who were convicted in Jamaica,” he explained.
Hours before Cameron’s plane landed in Jamaica on Tuesday, several media outlets in the UK reported that he had announced plans to build a new prison here at a cost of £25 million.
Jamaica’s National Security Minister has since revealed that the governments of both countries have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to improve prison conditions here through the construction of a maximum-security institution.
According to the ministry, the £25 million, or approximately J$5.5 billion, represented a grant from the UK government to finance a fraction of the cost of the new prison, and the Jamaican Government would be required to fund the rest of the project
@YOU
He rejected a deal under different Terms. KD Knigh and The 1990s admin also rejected a similar offer by Tony Blair.
What do you dislike about the Terms proposed by this new MOU ?
If you were the security minister, how would you go about constructing a US $ 100 million 2000 capacity Maximum security Prison ?
note
-Only Prisoners with only 18 months of their term remaining will be sent.
-There will be a CAP ie no more than 300 deportees can be held in the prison at any given time
-GP was constructed in the days of slavery to hold 500/600 High risk prisoners…it now has 1800
-the UK can just release and Deport these Jamaican prisoners early…Do you rather that or to hold them for 18 months while getting a LONG OVER DUE PRISON
-the UK can just release and Deport these Jamaican prisoners early…Do you rather that or to hold them for 18 months while getting a LONG OVER DUE PRISON ?
It’s just sad that the British government had been trying for so long to do this without success and then here comes this weak fence to let them in. What even more sad is that she is a woman. It’s just a bad situation and I feel it’s time for her to go. I feel Andrew Holness care about the country so maybe Jamaica will have a better chance with him. Now another matter is how can Portia net worth be 20 mil USD. Is that even possible?
Yes, it’s possible when you’ve been in a ginnalship, kleptomaniac government for over 30 years. Dem a thief Jamaica before me even start drink porridge or cut me teeth pon dumpling. Her husband pocket no weak either – as a business man.
Shower PeePee, yuh still at it? When will you grow a brain? Pattypage and yourself are really dense.
PattyP…is a while now I haven’t seen you. It’s nice seeing you. Enjoy your weekend. We may meet up on another post still :D.
PP, me deh yah. Although me nuh comment, me deh yah still. Me have fi duh betta with the daily check in.
It come in like all a the post them nah show but me deh yah everyday still. Hail up PP.
https://youtu.be/lHHAu1ny7u0
@Pattypage & @PhantomPhoenix…SMHH
Did you guys read and comprehend the proposed terms of the new MOU?…take your emotions out and your political blinkers off …And take a Rational look at the Prison situation in Jamaica
Answer my questions in the 1st 2 comments
@you. Hi misses, which part of we nuh want it you nuh I understand? Fi these reason of de yoppa meh hed. Pay di reparations dem owe,han we can sort out di prison issue,fi we self. Miss mi with that bull bout where the prisoners dem ago go. Right weu dem dey – Britain. Ah dem sed one bruk dem, ah dem fi keep dem. If them fi send dem anyway let that be..yu know wat a fi dem problem not jamaica’s anymore.
It must be nice to be so privilege that you see no insult in the offer of ah prison to a Nation of people you once colonized. Sometime I feel sorry if people like unno.
I’m sorry for non thinkers like unno…How is getting major help to construct a NEEDED prison gonna stop Reparations?
I agree with our continued fight for it…I believe like our fight against Apartheid one day I think we’ll win on that front.
But at the same time we should learn to separate issues
WE are in Great need for a Modern prison to replace the overcrowded 18th century designed workhouses Prisons- at Tower Street in Kingston and Spanish Town in St Catherine – that pass as /correctional centres’, ….They are in Terrible run down Conditions which is more likely to breed among their inmates resentment and recidivism than reform…which will only increase the country’s Crime rate.
”Miss mi with that bull bout where the prisoners dem ago go. Right weu dem dey – Britain. Ah dem sed one bruk dem, ah dem fi keep dem.”
Fool….didn’t you read the documents? most of the prisoners eligible to be sent back are Drug Mules or Jamaicans up there on visitors visa that ran afoul of their laws…if we don’t take them in our prisons for the few months/years left of the Sentence…The BRITISH ARE Just gonna Deport them and unleash them on the Jamaican population…’bout where these prisoners ago go’…Ediat !
@Pattypage & @PhantomPhoenix…SMHH
Answer my questions in the 1st 2 comments
Admins answer the questions
Them can’t answer…why?
Imagine a Jamaican prison where inmates can be rehabilitated go up against UNIVERSITY Students in a national debate. Prisoners rehabilitated to become productive members of society
————————————————————————–
NAPANOCH, N.Y.—On one side of the stage at a maximum-security prison here sat three men incarcerated for violent crimes.
On the other were three undergraduates from Harvard College.
After an hour of fast-moving debate on Friday, the judges rendered their verdict.
The inmates won.
The audience burst into applause. That included about 75 of the prisoners’ fellow students at the Bard Prison Initiative, which offers a rigorous college experience to men at Eastern New York Correctional Facility, in the Catskills.
The debaters on both sides aimed to highlight the academic power of a program, part of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., that seeks to give a second chance to inmates hoping to build a better life.
Ironically, the inmates had to promote an argument with which they fiercely disagreed. Resolved: “Public schools in the United States should have the ability to deny enrollment to undocumented students.”
Carlos Polanco, a 31-year-old from Queens in prison for manslaughter, said after the debate that he would never want to bar a child from school and he felt forever grateful he could pursue a Bard diploma. “We have been graced with opportunity,” he said. “They make us believe in ourselves.”
Judge Mary Nugent, leading a veteran panel, said the Bard team made a strong case that the schools attended by many undocumented children were failing so badly that students were simply being warehoused. The team proposed that if “dropout factories” with overcrowded classrooms and insufficient funding could deny these children admission, then nonprofits and wealthier schools would step in and teach them better.
Ms. Nugent said the Harvard College Debating Union didn’t respond to parts of that argument, though both sides did an excellent job.
The Harvard team members said they were impressed by the prisoners’ preparation and unexpected line of argument. “They caught us off guard,” said Anais Carell, a 20-year-old junior from Chicago.
The prison team had its first debate in spring 2014, beating the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Then, it won against a nationally ranked team from the University of Vermont, and in April lost a rematch against West Point.
Preparing has its challenges. Inmates can’t use the Internet for research. The prison administration must approve requests for books and articles, which can take weeks.
In the morning before the debate, team members talked of nerves and their hope that competing against Harvard—even if they lost—would inspire other inmates to pursue educations.
“If we win, it’s going to make a lot of people question what goes on in here,” said Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter. “We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard.”
Ms. Nugent said it might seem tempting to favor the prisoners’ team, but the three judges have to justify their votes to each other based on specific rules and standards.
“We’re all human,” she said. “I don’t think we can ever judge devoid of context or where we are, but the idea they would win out of sympathy is playing into pretty misguided ideas about inmates. Their academic ability is impressive.”
The Bard Prison Initiative, begun in 2001, aims to give liberal-arts educations to talented, motivated inmates. Program officials say about 10 inmates apply for every spot, through written essays and interviews.
There is no tuition. The initiative’s roughly $2.5 million annual budget comes from private donors and includes money it spends helping other programs follow its model in nine other states.
Last year Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, proposed state grants for college classes for inmates, saying that helping them become productive taxpayers would save money long-term. He dropped the plan after attacks from Republican politicians who argued that many law-abiding families struggled to afford college and shouldn’t have pay for convicted criminals to get degrees
The Bard program’s leaders say that out of more than 300 alumni who earned degrees while in custody, less than 2% returned to prison within three years, the standard time frame for measuring recidivism.
In New York state as a whole, by contrast, about 40% of ex-offenders end up back in prison, mostly because of to parole violations, according to the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Lol mi hope dem build a mental institution too cause ur fit to b the first n only patient u no see say the ppl dem nahhhhh chat to u u no shame lmaooooooo unnu love come over ya fi unnu back fist material n moments but guess wha NOT TODAY toodles to u n licky licky beggy beggy Portia wait a minute u know mi get nervinuss when she have nuff visitors in a di place eno a whey she find fi sell now which beach which resource waitttttt rawssee a outta airport she sell???????????? Lord teck di case n give us the pillow please Jah Jah
chuet mi deh yah whole day and doe even LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK pan dem
“mi get nervinuss when she have nuff visitors in a di place eno a whey she find fi sell now”
Gordon House :ngakak
Metsy and PP mi say u Eva see ppl dem insult fi invitation so???? All PP just hail Pattypage n not even a tiny glimpse she no give it
Met mi spirit tell me u see dem, hear u hear but a care u no care damn rotten zinc dem mi shame n anno me kmt
Dem a talk bout admin like dem hear seh mi a press button..mi doe have time fi dem and di foolishness
Outta order a u dem wha draw out
:maho
Anon. stop try stir up trouble. What me not being able to hail PP right away have to do with you. PP no disrespect but me cell phone have issues so me can’t log on no more when me deh a work. Me hail you back up a top before me see this rass trouble maker post.
Morning Pattypage, Met and others.
PP 😀 me seee you up top de. It’s a beautiful Sunday morning. Look like the little hurricane wind clean up the atmosphere a bit.
Me coming to comment on you and Marie down a bottom de.
morningggggggggggggggggg
I wil take the bait you f&&king disgusting dumb f**k.. So basically YOu and portia think its ok in a f**king poor ass country to house ducate rehab bla bla bla f**king criminals while neglecting children being killed every day.. JACKASS we can compete with other country because we DONT HAVE NO F**KING MONEY.. dunce unnu get that we BRUKKKK BROKE we have to prioritize and right now PRISON DE PON THE F**KING BOTTOM OF the rass list after just f**king livng breathing eating.. we cant even toouch healthcare education and housing because INNOCENT F**KING PEOPLE lIVING WOrSE THAN dem inna jail getting free f**king food.. PUSSYHOLE we have kids going to bed hungry.. OLE people HOMELESS Sick people dieing and all you f&&king DUNCE ASS MOTHERF**KERS accepted was a bloodclaat prison THAT ANSWER YOUR f&&king question bout read new f**king agreement.. man GUH SUCK YUH MADDA .
pardon my spellingbut mi vex nuh bloodclatt but I hope yuh get the drift you pompous arrogant piece of shit. now f**k off drink bleach and yu knoww the rest.. I dont see you motherf**kers posting and defending misssing or raped kids but unnu a defend taking prisoner for rehab and all now WHERE THE BLOODCLATT UNNU PLAN TO GET THE OTHER 6 BILLION TO FINISH THE PRISON f**king stupid cunts and pricks.. UNNU IS A DISGRACE>
Oh by the way wha unnu a guh do bout the hundreds of CRMINALS the US and Canada drop off right back into society unnu plan to put dem inna this state of the art facility and rehab them to.. Thats how stupid this f**king prison deal is… Cause the majority of deportees wont even see the inside just the 600 from ENGLAND you motherf**kers make stupid look like EINSTEIN . I wont even waste no more time on you f**king educated fools unnu make JAMAICAN educational system look BAD.
lol… Me owe you a drink :beer:
I bet any money that it will NOT be Jamaicans alone being sent to this prison…?Britain clearly nuh rate Jamaicans or respect them.(no questions from the media, no talks of reparation discussion..avoidance of slavery topic) wait for it expect to see Polish offenders (number one on the list)on the island..
Marie I was thinking that very thing re:prisoners of other nationality being dumped in Jamaica. I don’t know what will happen to us all but there is some serious brain drain with our politicians.
Morning Ms. Marie Happy Sunday. You bring up a very good point. Remember there were reports of secret prisons? Being that the puss escape the crocus bag, through wikileaks the U.S.and Britain have “that man” head at a price.
If they have the intentions of secretly housing certain persons, from certain region- then the Caribbean is ideal. No small fish. Location ideal because the citizens don’t have no say, and head of governments always salivating fi sinting fi thief. Waterways, airspace and port of entries can be easily monitored…think informal, international all purpose Guantanamo.
Lets just hope never to see such outcomes. We need a modern prison system and infrastructure- I won’t deny that. If the funds were given and specifically earmarked for that it would have been a clean sweep, but the attachment to the money is not, so it was only right for the former administration not take or consider the offer.
I’m not for reparations. But I am damn well in favor of having the U.S. sharing up the billions of dollars they take in from the decades of their bogus ‘War on Drugs’! Jamaica has paid the price heavily for that.