Over crowding at St Elizabeth police lock ups

A major problem of overcrowding is now affecting lock-ups at police stations in St Elizabeth. The problem has been made worse with the Easter session of the Circuit Court. Checks by RJR News Tuesday revealed that the lock-up at the Black River Police Station which was built to accommodate approximately 30 prisoners have in excess of 50, while the holding area is accommodating another eight prisoners. At the Santa Cruz station there are approximately 33 prisoners - 13 more than it was built to accommodate. Overcrowding is also reported at the Nain, Lacovia, New Market and Pedro Plains stations. When contacted, the police were light lipped on the situation at the lock-ups but they said they are working to reduce the overcrowding.  At one station, prisoners are being housed in the general area of the cellblocks.

The overcrowding in the lock-up at Black River is however expected to gradually reduce as prisoners who were brought in for Circuit Court sessions are returned to the maximum secuirty prisons or other stations from which they were brought.At present only 6 of the 11 police stations in the parish are properly equipped to house prisoners.