The Caribbean Umbrella Body for Restorative Behaviour (CURB) is the first and only Caribbean network of NGOs working to assist and support crime survivors, prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families... Find Out More

Vote in CURB RJ Poll

CURB would like to stimulate discussion among Caribbean nationals as to the manner in which we should implement restorative justice.

We have chosen to use an Online Poll to obtain your perspective on this important topic which is able to improve victim satisfaction and reduce crime and re-offending.

CURB To Tackle Prison Sexual Abuse

CURB has set its sights on the various institutions in Trinidad and Tobago which accommodate juvenile and adult offenders to highlight the incidences of sexual and other abuses against the inmates by staff and other inmates.

Commencing in March 2007 CURB will periodically expose the abuses and lobby for systemic changes to prevent their recurrence. Our efforts will culminate in November 2007 when we observe Restorative Justice Week with the theme "Not Part of the Sentence".

Community Focused Groups To Meet on April 7

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Website | RJ Poll | Blog | Photos | Prayer

• In the R.J. Spotlight
• Call for New RJ Test
• TT to begin Policing for the People
• Jamaican Prisoner Reveals Rape Ordeal
• Judge Calls for Counselling & Victim Impact Statement
• Justice Reform Consultations Begin
• Bajans Reject Sex Offender Registry?
• Caribbean Gets Poor Human Rights Rating
• And Much More Caribbean R.J. News!

Time to Stop Prison Sexual Abuse

On Wednesday 21st March, 2007 the Trinidad Guardian Newspaper carried the following Letter to the Editor written by CURB as the 'Letter of the Day'. The same letter was also published in the Mirror Weekend of 25th March 2007. We reprint it in our RJ Spotlight for the benefit of those who may have missed it.

Dear Editor,

Usually a taboo topic in the Caribbean, the rape and or sexual assault of inmates by other inmates and by officers is a real and not infrequent experience in our regional jails and prisons.

On 11th March 2007 the Mirror Weekend of Trinidad and Tobago ran an article in which it alleged that a prison officer on the island prison of Carrera mercilessly beat a male inmate who rejected his homosexual advances.

In February 2007 the Trinidad Express published the text of an interview conducted with a former female inmate who was acquitted on a murder charge. The woman alleged that there were attempts to engage inmates in lesbian relationships at the Women's Prison in Arouca, Trinidad to obtain favours from prison officers.

On 18th March 2007 the Sunday Gleaner highlighted a situation where a Jamaican male inmate was gang raped by 6 other men in his prison cell and has since contracted HIV/AIDS. The father of two children now thinks of ways to take his own life as he is unable to deal with the frequent sexual attacks directed towards him.

Internationally, there is the United Nations Minimum Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners which came into effect in 1955 and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which came into force in June 1987.

In 1992 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture stated that "since it was clear that rape or other forms of sexual assault... in detention were a particularly ignominious violation of the inherent dignity and right to physical integrity of the human being, they accordingly constituted an act of torture. "

However, several Caribbean territories are not signatories to these instruments and, therefore, are under no pressure from the international community to improve conditions in prison and jail institutions.

The time is NOW in the Caribbean for the public to admit that there is a serious problem in our prisons which we do not tolerate in free society - that of sexual abuse of powerless persons.

It is NOT part of the sentence of any convicted person to be sexually assaulted, violently gang raped and otherwise abused. No matter what our personal views may be towards those who offend, our legal system should NOT impliedly sentence them to being tortured or abused.

For members of the public to remain silent about this obvious abuse is to be accessories after the fact - a criminal offence in itself. For us to refuse to act to change a system which allows for such abuses to occur unhindered is to become inhuman ourselves.

CURB calls on regional governments to sign on to and ratify the aforementioned instruments and to hold prison authorities accountable for their breaches of the terms of the same.

If we continue to ignore the plight of the imprisoned, they will continue to return to society enraged, bitter and vengeful towards those who impliedly consented to their being tortured and tormented in one of the worst, most humiliating ways.

Such a scenario would only lead to more re-offending and less safety for the community as a whole. The time to act is NOW!

One of the weaknesses of the present-day restorative justice movement is the extent to which it appears to demonstrate a bias in favour of offenders.

One New Zealand group is now clamouring for purported restorative justice strategies to be examined to determine the extent to which they will serve the interests and needs of victims rather than the degree to which they may reduce crime...Read Full Article

On Thursday 15th March 2007 T&T's Minister of National Security said that the Police Service in the twin-island nation was embarking upon a new initiative which would benefit victims of crime and the wider community.

The initiative called "Policing for People" is being piloted in five police station districts in Trinidad for a period of 12 months. It is expected that more than 140,000 citizens would be served by the model police stations...Read Full Article

The Sunday Gleaner of 18th March 2007 took a bold step when it published an article on prison rape as told by a male inmate at the General Penitentiary in downtown Kingston.

The unfortunate inmate was gang raped by 6 men in their shared cell...Read Full Article

In Trinidad and Tobago, a High Court judge has called for the provision of counselling services for both victims and offenders in sexual abuse cases.

The statement was made by Justice Mark Mohammed who reserved his sentence of a sex offender to obtain a probation officer's report on the offender's history and also a victim impact statement....Read Full Article

On 15th March 2007 the Jamaica Justice Reform Task Force commenced a series of public consultations across the island to explore the views of Jamaicans in the process of justice reform.

Four working groups have been established in various parts of the island to organise wide consultation with the general public within their geographic area on their experiences with the justice system and to receive their recommendations for justice reform.... Read Full Article

With the incidence of sexual offending on the rise in the Caribbean, Barbados may opt to steer clear of establishing a national Sex Offender Registry.

The island's Attorney General, Dale Marshall recently stated that he was unaware that government wished to maintain an additional database of information on sex offenders apart from that available from court records... Read Full Article

The 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour in early March 2007 gave a low rating to several regional nations for poor human rights practices.

Jamaica was criticised for its treatment of detainees and prisoners in the custody of the state while lengthy pretrial detention resulting from heavy court backlogs and an inefficient judicial system continued to be a problem for T&T... Read Full Article