Cramped cells, security concerns - Corrections commissioner outlines challenges at ageing Tower Street facility

Even with plans to transfer 200 inmates from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre to another facility by the end of the month, the Kingston-based prison remained overcrowded as at Wednesday, November 11, with 1,559 inmates – nearly twice its capacity. The more than century-old facility was built to accommodate about 850 inmates.

Duane Smith, a member of Parliament’s Internal and External Affairs Committee, yesterday raised questions about the conditions in which inmates are living at the Tower Street and St Catherine correctional centres.

“The infrastructure of these aged buildings, because sometimes I see on social media people send out videos of inside the cells. I want to know if the older buildings in particular… if it makes it that more difficult for rehabilitation?” he asked.

Commissioner of Corrections (Ret) Brigadier Radgh Mason told the committee that substantial repairs had been undertaken at the Tower Street and St Catherine correctional centres, with additional work ongoing.

He said 4,000 mattresses had been acquired for the centres over the past two fiscal years.

Mason also said the bathrooms at Tower Street had been renovated, but the DCS was having difficulty giving inmates access to the facilities after they returned to their cells in the evening.

He said allowing inmates to leave their cells together to use the bathrooms could create security challenges, as they might target each other and trigger violent incidents.

Commenting on the arrangements for housing inmates, the DCS commissioner said no two persons were placed in the same cell.

"Where there is a shared cell it has to be three inmates. The cultural reality is, when you have two, other kinds of behaviours are possible and take place,” he said.

He further explained that if a fight developed between two inmates, the third person would be there to assist “and could also disrupt other activities”. Mason did not explain what other activities he was referring to.

However, when committee member Fitz Jackson asked whether inmates alleged to be homosexual were separated from others, Mason said: “We separate persons who we find to be vulnerable for whatever the reason… . We separate inmates for their safety”.

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