33
113
inhabitants. In February 2011, Suriname had a prison population of 1,010, of whom
114
approximately 50% were in pretrial detention.
76.
For the other English-speaking Caribbean OAS member States, from
which no direct information has been received, the International Centre for Prison
115
Studies at the University of Essex offers the following figures:
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines
Saint Lucia
Trinidad and Tobago
D.
361 / December 2012
1054 / December 12, 2012
1562 / December 31, 2012
275 / December 31, 2012
441 / 2012
1962 / October 31, 2011
4500 / December 2011
330 / August 26, 2013
410 / 2012
Percentage of inmates in
pretrial detention /
Date of information
54.8% / December 2012
37.2% / August 31, 2009
34% / December 31, 2012
25.5% / December 31, 2012
52.3% / February 13, 2012
39% / October 31, 2011
11.4% / 2009
29.7% / August 26, 2013
29.4% / December 2012
568 / November 2012
3800 / 2012
40.8% / November 2012
55.3% / 2012
Total prison population /
Date of information
State
Reasons for the excessive use of pretrial detention
77.
As already stated, over recent years the IACHR has identified the
following factors among the reasons for the high rates of people held in pretrial
detention in the region: judicial delays and backlog; the lack of operational and technical
capacity of police forces and investigation services; the lack of operational capacity,
independence, and resources among public defense offices; shortcomings in access to
public defense services; legislation that encourages the use of pretrial detention; the
absence of mechanisms for implementing other kinds of precautionary measures; the
inversion of the burden of proof for establishing that pretrial detention is necessary;
corruption; the widespread use of this measure in cases involving minor offenses; and
extreme difficulties in revoking it.
113
IACHR, Presentations from the Second Regional Seminar on Best Prison Practices, Jamaica,
December 2011, Presentation by Dr. Elliston Rahming, Superintendent of Prison, Rehabilitation of Inmates: A
National Imperative, pp. 5 and 6.
114
IACHR, Report on the Human Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas, para. 450.
Also: Response received through Note No. WASH/073/11/SM/jm from the Permanent Mission of Suriname to
the OAS, received February 23, 2011 (to the questionnaire sent out for the Report on the Human Rights of
Persons Deprived of Liberty in the Americas).
115
International
Centre
for
http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/.
Prison
Studies,
World
Prison
Brief:
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