I could have been a shooter

It is difficult to reconcile the strong words with the grey-headed, bespectacled gentleman who is carefully and thoughtfully choosing his words as he is asked about the current debate within the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) on his call for justice for prisoners “being held on remand”. His Grace, Archbishop Joseph Harris is surprised that there could be any challenge to what many have seen as a rational and well-founded demand for human rights and the appropriate application of the law.

The debate has arisen out of an appeal by him, as Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Port of Spain, for the immediate release of prisoners who are being held on remand for extraordinary periods. The Church defines extraordinary as having been held beyond the time one would have served had one actually been tried and convicted. Many prisoners have been held for years – for some, as much as ten, without trial. He sees this as a breach of their fundamental human rights and a grave social injustice. He points to successive governments, a failing legal system and a very inadequate education system for the demise, and the resulting cycle of poverty and crime.

“Hell Yard in the Beetham is what keeps me awake at night,” he responds to our prompt on what troubles him the most about the current social issues facing youth in Trinidad and Tobago and why the call for mercy is particularly relevant at this time. Young men, he believes, have been given a raw deal by successive governments. Leaving school functionally illiterate and unable to secure meaningful work leaves very few options open for survival.

“Were it not for my parents, I too might have been a shooter!” declares His Grace. It’s difficult to believe that this respected scholar might have found himself in such a situation, but for the ‘lashes’ of a persistent mother. He laments the failure of an education system with a bias for Euro-centric definitions of a person’s worth. It has created “a people with a deep inferiority complex.”

The system, says His Grace, also “does not make adequate provisions for expressions of being Trinbagonian or being simply human; and it does not address learning styles and aptitudes.”

Young men, he believes, have been given a raw deal by successive governments. Leaving school functionally illiterate and unable to secure meaningful work leaves very few options open for survival.

He himself loved philosophy and ecology and husbandry while still in high school but due a restrictive curriculum, he was unable to explore these interests until he joined the priesthood. It is only then his love for nature and living things flourished. As a former parish priest of Arouca, he had even set up an organic farm in the area, where he reared goats, sheep, rabbits and layers.

“People need to experience self-worth”, he urges. From his perspective, we need a model of humanity that affirms multiple demographics, embraces diversity and shows mercy to all. “Throughout history,” His Grace explains, “the writings of the fathers of the Church speak about a God of mercy. Mercy is in fact an attribute of God that we most experience.” This  characteristic  of  God  is  being celebrated and made to come alive by the universal Church as Pope Francis as Head of the Catholic Church has declared this year, ‘The Jubilee Year of Mercy’. The Church as he sees it, responds to the call to carry out the work of God by showing mercy.

Archbishop Harris reflects on the well- known parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ who had wasted his wealth on wine, women and parties. Depleted and marginalised, the errant son eventually comes to term with his folly and he determines in a cataclysmic moment, “I will get up and go to my father’s house.” He finds a father not just waiting, but eager to welcome and return him to his former status. His Grace believes that this is how God is with us – not a God with a black book or one who instils fear – but the one reflected in the life of Jesus as a revelation of the Father; the Jesus who was healing the sick and forgiving sins and teaching all about mercy. He explains that this is the essence of the scripture that compels us to go make disciples or followers of His way; and to see God in the poor, hungry, and naked around us as requiring action.

Archbishop Harris explains that at an annual gathering of the local priesthood, one priest emphasised the importance of not just having good ideas, but of doing good. He called for an active faith that would exemplify the mercy of God at work in the local Church. The entire clergy supported his call for intervention in the Remand Yard in Port of Spain. “This was a way to make the mercy of God incarnate”.

“This is not just about forgiveness”, he explains. There is a real legitimacy in the request to free those persons who are being held without trial. Rights to a trial are enshrined in the constitution but hundreds are being held for years in breach of these fundamental human rights.

A major concern for His Grace is the fact that the poor have no means to secure bail as they possess no property. So, it is the poor who languish in the Remand Yard and not those with means. While others continue to have the comfort of family and the opportunity to work while awaiting a very slow judicial process, the poor wait in jail. There is no fairness in this. But as he points out, most people in the wider society are not concerned because there is a general desensitisation to the marginalised. This cause-and- effect of waiting in jail is also polarised by geography and ethnicity. This is why “Hell Yard” is always at the top of his mind. He emphasises, that there must be a responsible and cohesive intervention to break these cycles. This for him, demands a collaboration of state and civil society.

While others continue to have the comfort of family and the opportunity to work while awaiting a very slow judicial process, the poor wait in jail. There is no fairness in this.

The Archbishop is clear that he is not dealing with major crimes like murder or drug trafficking. He is focused on those persons who have been incarcerated for allegedly having a joint of marijuana, for petty theft or for child maintenance. Most of these have more than paid for a crime they have not yet been proven to have committed.

The critical thing here, he elaborates, is not only have they spent more time in jail than the maximum sentence would allow; but that they have not been proven guilty. “Our laws state that we are innocent until proven guilty.” So holding men that are not guilty of a crime for three, five, or seven years, “is not only unreasonable, it is unjust.” And where is the justice, he wonders, in jailing a man for child maintenance, and then keeping him in jail away from his child for years, and when he comes out he cannot get work to support the same child because of his record?

His Grace believes that once these men have been freed, that systems must be immediately put in place to prevent any further backlog. He advocates for community service as an alternative to incarceration and for the immediate establishment of a night court served by Justices of Peace to process backlogged cases. A mediation court could also be set up to work in conjunction with the night court to process new cases within 48 hours of persons being detained. Under the Mediation Act of Trinidad and Tobago (Act No. 8, 2004), the Family Court could offer mediation. A judge, magistrate or Social Services of the Family Court could refer you to mediation during your court matter. In addition, individuals can also visit the Family Court and request mediation services. He also recommends that for petty crimes which are all eligible for bail, that magistrates be more discretionary in their requests for surety and make allowances for people to be bailed on their own recognisance where possible.

The Archbishop knows that this is a problem that can easily be addressed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), since by his approval alone, the unusual and extraordinary detention of some 2,000 men in Remand Yard can be fairly and justly processed.

The Archbishop has drafted a petition which could be signed at Catholic churches throughout Trinidad and Tobago or online via the diocese’s Facebook page. Corpus Christi was identified as a cut-off date for the petition. However, he continues to lobby the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the DPP to ensure that the appeal gains traction with those with the authority to change the status quo.