A/HRC/16/52/Add.3
than at Hill Top. However, he witnessed that the boys were also beaten there. The water in
Hill Top was very dirty.
Montego Bay Police Station (“Freeport”), Montego Bay
Visited on 20 February 2010
General information
222. The Special Rapporteur was received by Superintendent Winston Milton, Inspector
Moore and Inspector Shore, Custody Officer. At the time of the visit, there were 159
detainees at the lock-up, including nine females, nine children, 11 convicted and 113
remandees.
223. Freeport Police Station was one of the worst police lock-ups the Special Rapporteur
had ever seen. 159 detainees, including women and juveniles, were kept like animals in
overcrowded, dark and filthy cells for up to four years. There was only one corridor with a
number of cells on each side. At the initial part of the corridor, there were six cells where
women and juveniles were kept separated from the men. The wires of the doors were so
tight that very little light and air came into the cells and the detainees were almost
suffocating because of the heat and lack of oxygen. The cell doors were closed all day and
the cells had no windows. There was a toilet and water in each cell.
224. In the back section of the corridor, behind a barred door, the men were detained in
similar cells. Most cell doors were closed but some were open, and some men were in the
shower or on the toilets, which were all extremely dirty. Further down the corridor, it
became darker, filthier and smellier. The Special Rapporteur observed that the lock-up was
infested with cockroaches and other insects, which in the pitch dark cells could only be
seen with the help of a flashlight.
225. The whole lock-up was very noisy and the entire atmosphere was extremely violent
and tense. Inter-prisoner violence and regular beatings by police staff with black batons
were reported to be the norm. In the Special Rapporteur’s opinion, such a working
atmosphere was inhuman even for police staff.
226. The head of the lock-up agreed with the Special Rapporteur that the conditions of
detention were inhuman. In a conversation with the Superintendent, the latter indicated that
the situation was not ideal, but that he had to work with what he had. He added that he had
never received any complaints of ill-treatment or abuse, and that he often went from cell to
cell, speaking to the detainees. However, he stated that there were some incidents of
violence among the detainees. With regard to medical treatment, he indicated that detainees
were taken to see a doctor when they so requested. The Special Rapporteur strongly urges
the Government to close down this police detention facility.
Individual cases
227. C., aged 17, A. G., aged 17, K., aged 15 and E., aged 17. They had all been at the
police station between one and five months. They were locked down all day, and only
allowed out of their cells to shower and use the toilet. The boys indicated that the officers
would sometimes beat them after searches, depending on the reason why they were in
detention. They complained about being beaten on their stomachs, legs and knees with
batons, a wooden block and a black fibreglass tube. In mid-January, the police had thrown
pepper spray into their cell. C. noted that he had been beaten after he gave a note to another
detainee and that he had been forced to sleep on the floor when he first arrived. They also
complained about the cold, concrete beds and the lack of bedding. The toilet in their cell
was working, but they only used it to urinate, while they used the one outside to defecate, in
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