GILBERT SCOTT, Permanent Secretary for National Security, has rejected claims that the Horizon Remand Centre, Spanish Town Road, Kingston, was opened prematurely. He states that a new strategy is on the way to make the centre fully operational.
"We opened it when we had to open it," Mr. Scott told The Gleaner yesterday.
However, he would not be drawn on a date for resuming intake at the centre after the current two-month freeze, resulting in overcrowding in lock-ups throughout the country, which is a growing concern. The centre experienced extensive problems immediately after it started taking in prisoners on remand earlier this year. The problems included poor installation of locks, violent disturbances and a break-out. As a result, in July, the ministry called in the Jamaica Defence Force to take temporary control of the remand centre.
"We're still in the process of dealing with the issue and getting a proper assessment and developing an implementation strategy," Mr. Scott said.
According to him, a report on the centre compiled since July by a team from the Broward County Correctional Service, South Florida, had been submitted to the ministry and was informing this forthcoming "strategy."
"It's a fairly extensive report and covers a lot of areas," he noted, but did not expand on any of the points concerned beyond listing two as "physical aspects of the operation as well as procedural and managerial issues."
Last week, Derrick Smith, JLP spokesperson on National Security, labelled the new remand centre a "$400-million white elephant" and complained that the current freeze on persons to be remanded in custody was "presenting a major security threat and severe health concerns" in police lock-ups.
Concurring with Mr. Smith's safety claims, various Corporate Area superintendents of police have since complained that overcrowding in police lock-ups continues to pose a serious problem. No interim measure has been put in place by the ministry to reduce the problems that the centre was meant to eliminate.
Donovan Nelson, the National Security Ministry's public relations officer, told The Gleaner last week that the centre would not resume admitting remandees until everything was in place.
Mr. Scott argued that despite the fact that initial estimates for the centre had been overrun by $100 million, before the current problems, it may well represent value for money in the long run.
He told The Gleaner that the Broward team had noted that a similar centre "built in other circumstances" would have cost three to four times more.
Nonetheless, Mr. Scott admitted that members of the construction team, although highly reputable, had installed locks they were "probably seeing for the first time."
No disciplinary action is planned at the centre beyond ascertaining those ultimately responsible for the July break-out, according to Scott.
"The ministry takes responsibility," he stated, pointing to the wider picture. "One can take corrective measures; it doesn't necessarily require discipline."
