A magistrate has expressed concern about the attire of remand prisoners appearing before her court, even as a prisoner said the prison has no control over what they wear.
“I don’t understand how the prisons let them out like that?” Kaywana Jacobs said at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
She commented as an inmate, Lynron Prince, came before the court dressed in what appeared to be loose-fitting boxer shorts and white long-sleeved sleepwear.
The co-accused in that matter told the court, “Prisons have no control. Prisoners wear what they have.”
The hearing in the matter had been delayed because of the late arrival of the defendants, who were travelling to Georgetown from His Majesty’s Prisons, located 22 miles away in Kingstown.
The magistrate had called the matter about an hour before their arrival and the prosecutor, Corporal of Police Delando Charles had told her that he had been informed that the prisoners would be late due to the rain as they were riding in the pan of the police pickup.
The prisoner in apparent sleep wear wore them to his court hearings twice after the magistrate commented.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, males entering courtrooms are expected to tuck their tops into their long pants. They are not permitted to wear earrings, hats or sunglasses inside the courtroom.
Females are to dress modestly and are permitted to wear jewellery but are not allowed to wear hats or sunglasses inside the courtroom.
Interestingly, though, people, such as Rastafari who cover their heads for religious reasons, are asked to remove the covering before entering the courtroom, although the court is expected to respect religious freedom, which is enshrined in the Constitution.
If this magistrate was worth her salt, she would have known that the Prisons has no control over, and is not responsible for a remand prisone’s attire in court. These people appear before the court oftentimes in the same clothes they wore when arrested. The rules regarding attire before the court for the general public are not practical for those held in custody. Maybe if the “learned ” adjudicator took some time to study the workings of the system over which she presides, she would know what is practical and what isn’t.
This is what those in charge is doing to the country. Besides prisoners not being cared for the court buildings are hot and falling down. People wake up and see the truth. Vote them out.
You suppose to wear anything to court as long as it not nudity. You go to court for justice not to look pretty.