DeFreitas speculates that report on Prison has not been released because contents will embarrass Administration
Franz deFreitas is calling on the Gaston Browne Administration to make public a report that was compiled on Her Majesty’s Prison.
DeFreitas, the United Progressive Party (UPP) Candidate for St. John’s City South, claims the Administration has received a report on the Prison – which is commonly referred to as “1735,” the year it was constructed – but is refusing to share the contents.
He speculates that the report must contain information that makes someone look bad and, for that reason, it is being withheld.
DeFreitas pledges that a UPP Administration will share the document with residents and put into place the recommendations contained in the report.
There are ongoing complaints about Her Majesty’s Prison, where inmates are subjected to the rough conditions of the slavery-era institution.
Inmates still utilize slop pails to collect human waste; the cells are said to be smelly and unsanitary; and infestations of vermin plague the overcrowded 18th-century facility, which was constructed to house only 150 persons.
Meanwhile, a video and photographs in circulation show an area of the Prison that is in a nasty condition. The footage shows a metal garbage receptacle that is filled to capacity, with additional refuse collected on the side.
The area is filled with plastic water bottles and other waste materials, including a block of discarded sponge that might have been used as a mattress.
Persons are now asking why that area of the Prison has been left in a condition that resembles the Cooks Sanitary Landfill.
According to one woman, the number of flies at the location is alarming – enough to make the inmates and prison officers sick.
In fact, only a few months ago, REAL News reported that exterminators had been called in to address an infestation of flies, ants and roaches at 1735.
However, sources said the exercise would have necessitated the removal of prisoners – for safety sake – to another location. And, at the time, no suitable secure alternative could be found, although the Defence Force camp at Crabbes Peninsula had been considered.
