Twenty per cent of prisoners on murder offences

JUST OVER 20 per cent of the 472 prisoners housed at correctional facilities around the island are being housed there in relation to murder offences.

At the end of the criminal assizes on December 17, 2018, Superintendent of Prisons Brenton Charles presented statistics on the population of the prisons to Justice Brian Cottle.

The overall population in prison was given as 472, with 20 of these persons being female.

Ninety eight persons were cited as having been incarcerated for murder, with 37 having been sentenced, 47 awaiting trial at the High Court, and 14 involved in the process

of preliminary inquiry at the level of the magistrate’s court.

Eleven point two per cent of inmates, or 52 persons, are behind bars with relation to burglary; 43 serving jail sentences, and one each awaiting trial, and at the level of the magistrate’s court.

Twelve persons are being housed for rape, and 25 for unlawful sexual intercourse. Twenty-one persons incarcerated for unlawful sexual intercourse have been convicted, and are serving sentences.

Forty-three prisoners have been convicted for possession of unlawful firearms.

Conversely, there are no prisoners housed for the offence of money laundering.

Eleven of the prisoners are of other Caribbean nationalities, six of which are Grenadian. Two are Trinidadian, and there is one prisoner of Guyanese, St Lucian and Martinique nationality each.

The dominating age range for prisons in 2018 was between 30 years and 35 years, with 106 prisoners (22.46%) of the population belonging to this range.

There are 50 individuals between 16 and 21 years in prison.