Today's story on violence at the House of Detention in Pointe Blanche as a result of which an inmate was injured and hospitalised coincides with a report from The Hague that the Progress Committee St. Maarten remains extremely concerned about the execution of the Plans of Approach for the police and prison (see related article). Dutch Minister of Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk told the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague he shared these concerns and that view no doubt will be strengthened by this latest incident.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect of what happened yesterday is that a firearm was found. While a recent Daily Herald feature on the penitentiary showed the kind of often-self-made weapons that are quite prevalent among the detainees, a gun almost certainly requires parts that have to be brought in from the outside.
This apparently still being possible indicates that despite the ongoing efforts to improve the situation, much is still to be done. The Progress Committee also recognised "too few and too few qualified personnel" as one of the main issues.
The good news is that the Plans of Approach in question already have been extended to October 2016, but things will have to get a lot better during those two years. As long as the smuggling of illicit items into the complex continues, this obviously will prove difficult at best.
It's not for nothing that "the cleaning of the personnel dossier" was mentioned specifically as an area deserving of more attention and the fact that six guards are still suspended for various breaches of regulations says enough. Adequate staffing also is expected to become a problem for the new youth facility in Cay Bay, despite the current recruitment for such in the Netherlands.
To be fair, Warden Edward Rohan is well aware of these problems and the same goes for Justice Minister Dennis Richardson, who even met with the Inmates Association recently at their request. The two men in no way should be discouraged by Thursday's events, but should use them as motivation to work even harder on bringing structural order to the local detention system.
As Rohan stated in his interview published on September 5, "It takes time and trouble to remove the rotten apples." That may be so, but this nevertheless must be done and the community should give its full support.
