Attorney General John Jeremie has made his position clear; it is the rights of law-abiding citizens over that of criminal elements.
He made the remarks in the Senate, as certain Constitutional rights for remandees came up during a motion to re-designate Tetron and Staubles Bay as prisons. Alicia Boucher tells us more.
00:01Allegations that an attorney was blindfolded to see a rimandy at one of the military detention facilities
00:07and even as the government has decided to reclassify them as prisons,
00:11as opposed to district prisons to prevent legal action,
00:15Independent Senator Anthony Vieira says rimandies in particular have sit in constitutional rights
00:21which are different from convicted prisoners.
00:24Their constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence, the right to legal access
00:31and protection from inhumane treatment, those rights remain intact.
00:37And will this new location allow adequate and timely access to counsel?
00:46Will family visits, court appearances and medical needs be properly managed?
00:53Well, Attorney General John Jeremy, while saying the government is attempting to balance the situation,
00:59isn't overly concerned about that at this time.
01:02Sometimes the balance is equally struck. Sometimes you weigh one in favour of the other.
01:09And at this point in time, I'm sorry to say the balance has to be weighed in favour of the rights of the many.
01:20He says this was communicated.
01:25Notwithstanding the fact that I wore no mask, everyone else was doing that.
01:35So I said to the Senate and I said to them that we are dealing with a crisis and their rights are secondary to ours.
01:52Jeremy says his statements come amid his awareness that he has an important role in guarding the fundamental rights of the citizenry.
02:00There will come a time, and that day may be soon, when I am very concerned about their constitutional and human rights. Not so today.
02:17Senator Vieira questions whether the need to transfer prisoners to Tetran and Stobols Bay is conceding to a possible reality that the prisons in the country are no longer able to hold the most dangerous of criminals.
02:34He notes that the legislation is archaic dating back to the 1900s and says there are deep structural issues to be fixed, including overcrowding, the way prisons are managed, the slow criminal justice system, the lack of rehabilitation, etc.
02:51I think too, in the long term, we need to construct a dedicated facility.
02:58Perhaps government might consider repurposing Carrera Island or designating some other secure facility outside the traditional prison system to house these high risk inmates.
03:14One designed with appropriate security technology and isolation infrastructure, but firmly under civilian correctional oversight.
03:26Vieira says without prison reform, the country will continue to grapple with some of the ills under the present system.
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