CCPR/C/113/D/2091/2011 The complaint 3.1 The author claims that if he were removed to Jamaica, he would be exposed to a risk of being arbitrarily deprived of his life, in violation of article 6 (1) of the Covenant, and of being subjected to persecution, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in breach of article 7 of the Covenant. 3.2 It is well established in medical literature that persons with schizophrenia are more likely to become victims of violence and crime than to commit violent acts themselves. A medical opinion submitted by the author indicated that he would end up homeless in Jamaica, with a high probability of being abused or killed. 2 In a 2011 report submitted by the Director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in the Ministry of Health of Jamaica,3 it was noted that mentally ill serious criminal offenders are treated within correctional facilities in Jamaica. According to the report, such deficiencies, coupled with a lack of family support in a foreign environment, would expose the author to great risk of deterioration of his health condition, social exclusion, isolation and homelessness. 3.3 According to the same source, there are, in general, insufficient resources in Jamaica to treat persons with schizophrenia. Jamaica is moving towards a community-based mental health-care system, which presupposes that patients have family support. This assumption is extremely problematic for the author, who has no family support in Jamaica. Community group homes provide accommodation for deportees for 30 days. After that period, the individual may (a) if ill, be admitted to the mental hospital, which has very limited capacity and whose authorities are very reluctant to admit deportees; or (b) stay in a shelter. Most people in that situation end up on the streets after three months.4 3.4 According to a 2006 report by the Director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services at the Ministry of Health of Jamaica, there are no shelters for individuals with a history of violent behaviour in Jamaica; psychiatric treatment in prison is in the embryonic stage; mental illness is highly stigmatized; and protection for all individuals falls within the scope of the legal system.5 3.5 In the absence of medical treatment and family support, the author claims that he will become vulnerable to declining physical and mental health, further relapses and more severe psychotic episodes, thus increasing the likelihood of acts of violence, which will bring him to the attention of the Jamaican authorities and expose him to inhuman prison conditions, torture and even death as a result of police violence. The Jamaican police has been accused of committing extrajudicial executions, and persons with mental illness living on the streets are frequently targeted by the police. 6 3.6 If he were imprisoned on suspicion of committing an offence, the author would face indefinite detention because he is unable to advocate for himself. The homeless and the mentally ill are subject to egregious violence in Jamaica7 and are reportedly likely to be victims of rape in prisons.8 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reports dated 23 February 2010 and 24 August 2011 and e-mail of 26 August 2011 from Dr. Wendel Abel, Head of Psychiatry Section of the University of the West Indies. Dr. Maureen Irons Morgan, 26 August 2011. E-mail from Dr. Abel of 26 August 2011. Report of Dr. Earl Wright, 6 June 2006. The author refers to 2010 and 2011 reports from Amnesty International, the United States of America Department of State’s 2010 country report on human rights practices in Jamaica and reports by the Clarendon Association for Street People (CLASP) in Jamaica. The author refers to various media and non-governmental organizations reports, including: Oshane Tobias, “More street people in 2010, warns CLASP”, Jamaica Observer, 10 January 2010; Erica 5