Christmas Day, for the second consecutive year, was disheartening and filled with regret for Jash Gray*, a prisoner at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston.

Gray, who called The Gleaner on Christmas Eve directly from his phone inside the institution, popularly known as the General Penitentiary, complained that for the second time around, he, along with other prisoners, was not allowed visits by their children owing to restrictions and rules introduced after the onset of COVID-19.

“Nothing naa gwaan fi Christmas. From mi see my kids dem in December 2019, mi nuh see dem again. I’m not going to lie, mi get to speak to them, but mi wuda love fi see mi kids dem, fi hold dem ina mi hand and mek dem know seh daddy still de here,” the father of three children – two daughters and a son – told The Gleaner.

He continued, “A lot of inmates, including myself, are asking to let us see our family, even our kids for the Christmas, but no one is talking to us. We even ask for visits, like [getting] Christmas dinner or something like that, and nothing. A two years now we nuh get no food visit, and all we beg dem is a food visit or mek we see we kids dem.”

With the passing of Christmas, Gray is begging the relevant authorities to allow visits for the new year, even if it requires prisoners, their children and other visitors being fully vaccinated and tested negative for COVID-19.

“Even right now, inmates waa get vaccinated, and all now nobody nuh come fi seh dem a go mek we get vaccinated or whatever, so we can see we family. Nobody naa tell we nothing. If a vaccine we fi tek fi see we family dem, inmates willing fi tek di vaccine, but nobody naa tell we nothing. We lef’ right out and everything,” Gray told The Gleaner.

Gray also complained that the authorities at the facility who should be investigating the grievances are not listening to them.

“If we go over the overseer office or so, di overseer dem not even a talk to we. Basically, we get left out of the world. Like nobody nuh memba we,” he said.

Gray also told The Gleaner that one of the major problems the prisoners now face is obtaining supplies from the tuck shop.

He said there was the need for sweeping changes at the correctional facility. “The tuck shop, if you put the money on the card, it tek like three months before the money come,” he complained.

“If you go to dem ‘bout di problem, dem a tell you seh dem nuh responsible fi that; a di bigger heads responsible fi dat, but di bigger heads naa come to we. We never see di bigger heads,” he added.

Gray said the inmates could not access items for proper sanitisation on a timely basis from the tuck shop, even after those products were paid for by their relatives.

“You naa get no bleach, you naa get no disinfectant, yuh naa get none a dem sumn de. Dem stuff de a weh you’d affi buy a di tuck shop eno, [and] even if yuh family put the money, you naa get that til three months’ time,” he said.

He said sometimes inmates are fed with two slices of bread with mackerel gravy and a cup of tea for breakfast.

Gray vowed that he would not return to prison after he is released.

“When mi do get my free from right yaso, mi naav nothing fi do with nothing with the law. If a church mi affi go, mi a gaa church, because mi a try my best nuh come back a dem place ya,” he said.

He argued that the institution was not geared towards rehabilitating inmates. “Di institution turn yuh into a monster.”

When The Gleaner contacted Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, Matthew Samuda, for a comment regarding the situation, he indicated that he could not comment at this time.

*Name changed to protect inmate’s identity.

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