Trudy Simpson, Gleaner Writer

Davis

Manchester, England:

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Carlton Davis has said it is time for Jamaica to consider renegotiating its agreement with developed countries regarding the deportation of ex-criminals to its shores.

"We need to renegotiate the memorandum of understanding. We need to sit down and say we need to deal with this in a manageable way," Dr. Davis told his audience during the first day of the three-day annual Jamaica National Building Society's (JNBS) Outlook Tour, held in Manchester, England, last Thursday.

In addition, Dr. Davis has appealed to Jamaicans living in the U.K. to help their homeland find solutions to reduce and better manage the increasing numbers of deportees being sent back to the island.

Need for discussion

Dr. Davis, who is head of the civil service, said there was need for discussion on the issue because of the difficulty being posed by deported persons who had no relatives in Jamaica, who do not identify with the country because they did not grow up there. He said the Diaspora must form part of that discussion.

While he admitted that many deportees sent back to Jamaica from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. often overstayed their welcome, he said Jamaica was seeing a worrying trend which saw countries sending back rising numbers of deportees who had committed dangerous criminal offences, such as murder.

Data quoted

He quoted data which showed that 71 per cent of the more than 2,000 deportees sent to Jamaica had served jail sentences for committing criminal offences. In 2005, 530 persons were deported after committing murder, he said.

"When they come (to Jamaica) they are free, and a study shows that there is strong correlation between deportation and violent crime," Dr. Davis said. "We need serious discussion as to the systems that enable us to manage this inflow of people who, I am told by the security ministry, have no family. They probably become 'technical advisers' (to other criminals) ... I am not saying that they are the cause of our problems but it is a factor."

The JN Outlook Tour, in its fourth year, also took in Birmingham and London, and allows Jamaicans living in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. to ask officials from local government agencies questions on issues affecting their lives.