A/HRC/16/52/Add.3 St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, Spanish Town Visited on 17 February 2010 General information 111. The Special Rapporteur was received by Acting Superintendent R. Williams, Acting Assistant Superintendent Isak Grizzle and Norman Powell, overseer officer. At the time of the visit, 1,263 detainees were held in the facility, which had a maximum capacity of 850. 112. At the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit, the prison’s occupancy rate was almost 50% over its maximum capacity. In addition to four main buildings (Blocks A, B, C, D) there were three special buildings: the Side Cells with four sections, also called VPU (Vulnerable Prisoners Unit), which held persons with mental disabilities, homosexuals and other vulnerable groups; Gibraltar (including six death row prisoners in Gibraltar 1 on the 1st floor); and the New Hall. Section 1 in Block A was called security section. The cells in the security sector had doors with no windows. Detainees serving a life sentence were not separated from others. The last execution had taken place in February 1988. The gallows were still there, but the officers could not find the keys to show them to the Special Rapporteur. 113. The prison buildings, which had reportedly been built in order to “store” slaves on their passage to America, still reflected the atmosphere of a storehouse for human beings. The cells were generally paltry and detainees had no possibility of any meaningful occupation. Individual cases Vulnerable Persons Unit 114. Mark Reid, aged 29, was detained in a solitary cell in the sector reserved for homosexuals; he had to serve a 25-year sentence. He had to be in a single cell for his own protection, because he was afraid of being killed if he had to share a cell. He was allowed to leave the cell from 6:00 to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. He could receive two visits per month. He added that there were no beatings in that sector, but complained that he did not receive enough food. 115. Gibson Bunting, aged 47, had been at St. Catherine for 30 years, for a crime he committed as a child. His parole had been denied because of an alleged mental illness. There were no beatings at St. Catherine, but he had been beaten at a police station. He complained about having to defecate in pitchers when the detainees were not allowed to use the toilets. 116. Ricardo Lee, aged 39, British national, had been detained at St. Catherine for five years. He had asked to be placed in the vulnerable persons unit for protection, as he had been attacked by other detainees. He expressed fear that everyone would know in which sector he was detained upon his release, and that his life would be threatened. He did not have a lawyer. There was a lot of violence among the prisoners and between the prisoners and the guards. He also complained about not being able to use the library because there was a common belief that if other prisoners touched any book that he had touched, they would become homosexuals. He was confronted with the same attitude with regard to the gym and the playing field. As a result, he could not associate with any other prisoners, and could only walk around in his unit. He also expressed fear about speaking to the authorities, as he did not trust them. He requested that stamps and envelopes be provided to those prisoners who could not afford them. 43