Dear Editor,
I am at a loss of words for how unsafe it can be to simply walk around on the island, even during the daytime, and how young teenagers are still behaving.
On Monday August 16, 2021, I was walking from the parking lot on the Pondfill to Front Street. My route was from the parking lot, passing Sundial School and the library, and then passing through the alley where the former Super Plaza was located. While passing near Sundial, there were a large group of young men, students I must add in their uniforms, and they started shouting, calling out names such as “Faggot” “Gay” and saying things like “Yo, you like man!”
I was simply walking to my destination, caused no harm to these students, yet I had to hear these things. Visiting St. Maarten for vacation and minding my business I did not expect to be bullied by students on a bright Monday afternoon. I can imagine how unsafe queer students and other young teenagers must be feeling amongst their homophobic peers.
That was not it of my ordeal, I ignored the students and continued walking to the alley by the former super plaza, two young men – one from Milton Peters College in uniform and I believe one from Sundial – asked me for a dollar but I did not have one, so they started screaming obscenities and threw a bottle towards me. It was a scary experience.
Something must be done because no one should feel unsafe simply walking in the city or anywhere on the island. These teenagers must be taught from home and school to respect one another, despite of their gender, race, sexual orientation, sexuality, or even size.
I have a few friends from New York that will be visiting the island in a few weeks, these individuals are already asking me if the island is safe enough for queer people and they are double guessing their stay. Is this the reputation we want to have? What happened to being a friendly island?
All we have to do is simply respect each other.
Name withheld at author’s request
Dear Editor,
On behalf of the inmates of the Pointe Blanche prison, we would like to bring your attention to some serious issues that are remaining behind the walls of the Pointe Blanche prison. It seems that since the passing of Hurricane Irma of 2017, the public has not been made aware of these issues.
After the passing of Hurricane Irma, 60 inmates were sent away from their families so that a new prison could be built. The inmates were informed that they would only have to spend six months abroad, while the prison would be renovated, and that they would return to a new prison. Four years have passed now and there is no new prison while the inmates are still away from their families. More interestingly, the inmates have not been informed of their status and of when the Government plans for their return to St. Maarten where their families can visit. Instead, the prison has been filled back up to maximum capacity, giving no sign of better living conditions for a so- called Dutch Caribbean country as St. Maarten.
From 2017 there have been no rehabilitation programs for the young individuals at the Pointe Blanche prison – none whatsoever! There are no educational day programs at the prison while 80 per cent of the inmates are in the age group of 19-25. Despite promises being made to the inmates, in the hope for a better future for our youth of St. Maarten, nothing has been done for years.
Some of these guys are being sent to prison for their crimes but are not animals and as such are looking for a better tomorrow when they return to society. But if they do not have a mentally strong mind, they will be sent home when their sentences are finished and have nothing to go home to – no job skills and no motivation to work – simply because the system has failed to put a protocol in place for their youth. Instead, they lock them up and keep them in a cell all day, all night, with no kind of rehabilitation programs in place. Some of these inmates have good family with a little “clout” and are the lucky few who may not be affected. But what about the ones that don’t have this kind of support?
It has been brought to my attention that some of the inmates that have been freed from prison can’t even get a job because of their police record. Now tell me! As part of the Dutch Kingdom, we know that this is not the standard in the Netherlands as there are programs set in place for individuals that are being released from prison. On the contrary, however, individuals being released from prison in St. Maarten can’t even get a job.
For instance, I know of one inmate that was sent home from the Pointe Blanche prison and got himself a job. A few months later the supervisor was aware of his time spent in prison and he was consequently called to the office and was told that he couldn’t work at the company any longer because of his previous imprisonment. This was one of the few that was released from jail and was trying to make a better life for themself without any kind of social training offered from the prison.
There are also local born St. Maarten young men that have left prison and are being sent into society with nothing in their hands – not even an ID card. One tried to get into NEPA training school and was denied because he had no ID card. This means that the management at the Pointe Blanche prison is failing to do their job accordingly, as it is the task of the social worker to ensure that a St. Maarten native be put back into society with not only the proper documents but the necessary documents to make a way back into normal living. But the way we are going about affairs in Sint Maarten is creating monsters instead, yet we wonder why so many of our young men are being sent back to prison. Come on!
In the Netherlands they are shutting down prisons because, once in the system, the government and the probation board ensure that these ex-convicts are being cared for and that jobs are being provided for them. Whereas in Sint Maarten they are being sent back out into society, empty-handed – without certificates and such to get a job. This forms part of the destruction rather than fixes the problem!
There is a Minister of Justice in power from 2019 who has never taken a walk in the prison to see the living conditions of the prison inmates at the Pointe Blanche prison. The most this minister has done was visit the front office and make way back out the door. What kind of person responsible for a facility does not know about the internal affairs of that facility and is unaware of what is happening in the very place that they are supposed to oversee?
The roof of the church has been gone because of the 2017 Hurricane Irma. The prison is not functioning and running the way it should run. This prison is over 30 years old with an infestation of rodents – even in the kitchen. Should the Health Inspectors come to inspect the kitchen it would be shut down. And still, nothing is being done. The sewage is backing up in the kitchen, to the extent that it smells like the old time Dutch Quarter street. Still, nothing is being done. The roof of the kitchen is leaking – the room where the daily bread is being made for the inmates. Every morning there are over 50 roaches, as if to say they are living there, sitting on the bread that must later be shared to the inmates. Some of these breads then need to be thrown in the garbage because of contamination by rodents. Yet, our government complains that we have no money to waste.
My question to the Minister is then: “When last did the pest control visit the prison – especially the kitchen?”
There are not even proper ice jugs for drinking water for the inmates. They are even short on ice jugs for water to stay properly hydrated in the prison. I have been told for almost a whole year now by inmates that have been asking for water jugs, that if they have no money on their canteen account, they will have to drink pipe water, which, unfortunately, is also contaminated by sea blast and rust.
There is a new Director for over one year now and still there is no proper plan of action in place. So, whom are we to blame? We St. Maarten people need to step up and ask questions to our politicians and parliamentarians such as “What’s the plan of action?” because for almost two years now the excuses have been COVID-19 and it’s clear that COVID isn’t going anywhere for now.
The minister (of Justice) went to the newspapers saying that new computers have been sent to the prison for the inmates’ educational programs, but are there any? Have the inmates ever seen these so-called new computers? Have they ever used them? The answer is no! The excuse is that the government has no money to pay teachers to come to the prison, but the prosecutor and judges are at the same time handing out some humungous sentences with no care – none whatsoever – and not looking into the serious matter of trying to change these individuals’ mindset. When their time is done, whose fault is this? Could it be our justice ministers of St. Maarten?
The health issues at the prison are terrible. If an inmate has a toothache and has no money or family member to put money on their account, that inmate will have to sit with that pain until it goes away. The only thing the nurse will do is provide them with painkillers. So, in other words, if you have no money you will suffer with pain for days – sometimes months – until you get a family member or a friend to help you pay for your dental treatment. My thoughts were that, during incarceration and being under government supervision, it should be the responsibility of government to pay for inmates’ dental costs rather than have inmates pay for this on their own.
The same goes for the eye specialist costs, where family or friends of inmates would have to put money on the prison account so that their eyes can be checked. Again, the government of St. Maarten should be responsible for the inmates’ medical costs as these inmates are incarcerated and held by the court of law, not their family or friends.
Keep in mind, life was already hard for some of these inmates outside of prison, where they felt pressured to commit a crime just to come up with money because they had no job and family were unable to provide for them because they did not have it to provide. So now, these inmates that are in prison – without a job or anything, as life is on pause – how in the world will they be able to pay for medical treatment if needed? Some of these inmates are prescribed medication from their house doctor and when sent to the Pointe Blanche prison they are being told that the prison can’t afford the medication that they need, yet are still being held, while in court the Judge is saying that the prison is responsible for the inmate’s medication. However, as you leave the court this gets swept under the rug and is forgotten.
In 2019 there was an inmate that had to be sent to a foreign country, his country, because he was very ill, and the government could not afford his treatment, so he had to be sent home where he could use his own money to take care of his health. He was supposedly sent there for six months to recover and return to resume his current sentence. Notably, he was sentenced to six years in prison, was released and was never sent back to St. Maarten because his country refused to send him back if country St. Maarten could not provide for his health. Such things go unseen and unsaid. The truth is being hidden in plain sight.
Keep in mind, this inmate that was sent to his native country – his home – was sentenced for child molestation and was set free just like that, simply because the prison could not provide for his medical health. Medical health is a serious issue that should be taken very seriously at the Pointe Blanche prison. Some inmates are injured in prison during fights or during police detainment and due to lack of proper treatment some can’t even use their hands anymore due to the extent of how far it has gone because of it not being treated on time.
At this moment the prison is full to its maximum capacity and there are no guards on a daily basis. Most of the time there are only two or three guards to deal with the maximum capacity at the Pointe Blanche prison. The situation is so bad that the guards themselves see the negligence to the point where they do not want to work in this situation. These situations also go unseen in which some of these prison guards go home to their family that they provide for without the proper tools to carry out their jobs – the very jobs given to them by the Ministry of Justice. This is a dangerous situation because if injured during an altercation there is already no proper medical treatment being offered.
There have been serious injuries that happened to inmates at the Pointe Blanche prison in the past. Meanwhile, some of those that are responsible for these inmates are not doing their jobs, yet they are getting paid while sitting and not doing a drop of work while day by day the situation is becoming worse.
The inmates are crying out for Holland to take over the prison or for the Ministry of Justice to step up to the plate. But it’s clear that the minister of justice in Sint Maarten cannot handle the job or, like the minister implied, that she doesn’t need this job. So, in that case, let someone who needs the job or is determined to make a change take over and do it in the way that it needs to be done.
We need to bring these serious issues that are taking place in the justice system of St. Maarten to the forefront and to the attention of those beyond the prison walls. We are saying that if St. Maarten cannot handle the issues at hand, it would be better that Holland takes over justice as is the case in Bonaire. The inmates at the Pointe Blanche prison are crying out for Holland to take the wheel!
Pointe Blanche prison inmates
Dear Editor,
People often approach me and ask me to write to you concerning different issues, and I generally let them know that their opinion is not my opinion and that they have to put their thoughts on paper and send them to you. In this case I myself have decided to find out if what was told to me is true: “Mr. Russell I can’t speak no Papiaments or Dutch and I can’t understand what it is they does be saying when I call the bank to find out if government put the li’l pension money on the bank.”
This has always bothered me because it happened to me several times because on several occasions during a conversation with the elderly that question comes up and as they would say in Papiamentu (“kurpa habri”) without giving it a second thought I would dial to find out if government had deposited that stipend on the bank. And again I would be struck by the fact that the recording on the answering machine of a bank situated in St. Maarten is in Papiamentu and Dutch. English is out of the question. A book of recording in Dutch and Papiamentu.
And when I finally get someone on the line and ask that age-old question if “government pay the pension” which nowadays has become “did government put pension money on the bank” I get a barrage of questions. When I ask why all of these personal questions just to know if government has put the pension money on the bank I get answers like “we want to make sure that you have an account with us before answering that question.”
I cannot lie about this because at the beginning it tells you that your conversation is being recorded. But I continue to be embarrassed because I still do not think that the crime is so bad in St. Maarten that one has to be careful while asking if government has paid pension.
But for me it is even more degrading that the bank which earns a great deal of its money in St. Maarten would not even honor the population by having a recording in the official language and our people in government continue to hold those responsible in high regard. Who is government actually representing?
Then the question automatically rises like my father “the old sailor” used to say when he had up a few, “Who is the captain of this ship?”
By the way, now that everybody is aware of the controversies with the so-called vaccine, why have not we heard that the doctors in St. Maarten have come together to formulate a plan of action to combat COVID-19? Is this question far-fetched?
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
I take this opportunity to send my condolences to Max Phelipa’s family and also on behalf of the Haitian footballers living in St. Maarten and elsewhere.
I also take this opportunity to pay a great tribute to a painter, a goalkeeper and a pioneer of football in St. Maarten in the nineties. He is who was able to make known the local and also the international football here on this island and also to bring from Haiti the first division players to promote the competition level.
We have lost a great man; he is gone but we can never forget everything he did in the sport, and again all our sympathies to the family.
Rest in peace.
Joseph Witus Pierre
Dear Editor,
I just want to take this opportunity to address for a while this abusive situation between employers and their employees, that has become a regular ongoing issue here on St. Maarten, especially since the beginning of COVID-19.
Dear editor many people, not only here, but all over the world are facing and going through some serious financial times. While we are seeing many people who are still fortunate to have a job, or buy a new brand car, and do their regular shopping for themselves and their families, there are also many out there who have lost their job, since the outbreak of this pandemic, and are in dire need of financial help, and food. Today we can hear the outcry of the various employees now seeking their rights because many employers have also found it fit to take advantage of their employees who have worked hard and faithful, some of them for even many years.
Beside the loss of loved ones that this pandemic has caused since it started in 2019, it has also brought misery, mental issues, hopelessness, and family problems, as well as court cases for many others seeking their rights.
Dear editor, I stand in solidarity with those employees who are still fighting their battle against their employers, who show no mercy and wilfully fail to pay out their workers in a fair and just manner. These employees have to now go to court along with their unions, to seek justice for the injustice that has been done to them.
Dear editor, this is an ongoing cry here among workers on this little island we call St. Maarten, where the words “justice” or “righteousness” seem to be forgotten or unknown, especially for many employers who underpay their workers, abuse their rights, and take advantage of them. These employers, during the pre-pandemic good times, have made their profits, and filled their pockets.
They did not come to this island for the sunshine, or the beautiful beaches, but to do business and make money, because St. Maarten is an island where not much honour is given to worker’s rights. Furthermore, you are free to trample underfoot the laws of the land, treat the workers as you want, because the labour laws are not respected anyway, and even go as far as disrespecting the very verdict of the judge to pay out their workers, even if they win their case.
Yes, as always, government officials remain silent about these issues, so the workers or the poor man continues to suffer the consequences. So, it’s like saying to all residents as well as foreign employers, “Live as you want, hire and fire as you want, respect or, to your own decision, disrespect our labour laws and the judges’ verdicts as you want, because the people of this little friendly island are nothing else but a bunch of slaves and as a matter of fact, we the employers are the “shadow government,” behind your local government.” This is St. Maarten “the friendly land of the free”.
Dear editor, whenever this island receives money or loans as financial aid from the Dutch, account must be given for every penny that was or would be spent. Yes, they may be blond, with blue eyes, or fair-skinned, but I am sorry, they are not our “Father Christmas.” There must be a feed-back or nothing else will be given.
What I then, dear editor, don’t understand is why do these employers receive financial aid from government for their workers, and there are continual complaints from these employees that no money, or the right amount of money, was given to them? Don’t these employers have to give a feedback as to who all received, and how much they received, to our good Minister of Finance?
Dear editor, I rest my case. I do wish these unpaid employees much success in their struggle for their rights, against these mighty employers, and to keep on fighting for justice and righteousness. Your families are depending on you.
A concerned citizen
Name withheld at author’s request.
