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Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves speaks with the media near Belle Isle Correctional Facility on Saturday. (Photo: Lance Neverson/Facebook)
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves speaks with the media near Belle Isle Correctional Facility on Saturday. (Photo: Lance Neverson/Facebook)
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Between 40 and 50 prisoners could be released this week following a meeting of the Committee of Mercy.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told the media on Saturday that he has asked to be sent a list of prisoners who could be considered for release on compassionate grounds.

Speaking in Belle Isle outside the correctional facility his government commissioned in that North Leeward area in 2009, Gonsalves said:

“Prisoners are coping OK. There are contingency plans if we reach at this stage in relation to moving people from here but that hasn’t arisen.”

He said that the Superintendent of Prisons had reported to him “that the prisoners have been very cooperative in this matter” — an apparent reference to the impact of the on-going eruption of La Soufriere.

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“I’ve requested a list from the Superintendent of Prisons, persons which are minor offences and people who haven’t paid a fine and might be there and so on, who we can release and couple of people who inside for maintenance monies and them kinda thing,” said Gonsalves, who, as minister of national security, is responsible for prisons.

“So I am trying to see if I can organise that for later this week to have a meeting with the Committee of Mercy,” he said, adding that the number of persons being considered for release “would not be a significant number”.

“I would say across the population of 400, might be 50, 40, from the list which I did a rough, cursory analysis. It shouldn’t be a lot,” the prime minister said.

He added:

“The Committee of Mercy, on these things, is usually very conservative.”

3 replies on “PM considers early release of 50 prisoners”

  1. We have to hope this is not a mistake. It could end up like the USA where victimhood is going so far that many criminals get released or do not go to jail at all. SVG has a few lawyers that are able to make the perpetrators appear to be the victims and the victims are seen as the guilty ones. Not to mention all the misinformation in the world today. The truth is often now the lie, and the lie is the truth. Here is a recent article indicating how we used to be controlled and and how we are today:

    https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/when-the-lord-protector-turned-out-to-be-the-worst-tyrant-of-all-32032/

  2. Sandra Charles says:

    PM i hope tbese are not prisioners of the likes of Coco Collin David who is serving time for gun possession.

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