The St. Maarten Progress Committee sets the right tone in its report dated February 22 on the Pointe Blanche prison (see related story). Rather than just criticising the local government for substandard conditions there, the suggestion is to work on a joint structural solution through dialogue with the Netherlands.
The latter is rightly preferred over intervention by the Kingdom Council of Ministers on this sensitive matter. Taking over responsibility for a Dutch Caribbean country’s penitentiary should be a last resort.
To be sure, repairs and improvements continue unabated at the facility as reported in the last week of March after an onsite inspection by Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever. Several relevant appointments have also been made recently, including that of a new prison director and eight guards, while Volunteer Corps VKS agreed to assist with security.
The committee nevertheless concludes that St. Maarten lacks the capacity and expertise to implement a new detention regime within a reasonable period. That’s really nothing to be ashamed of and goes back to how the former Netherlands Antilles was dismantled per 10-10-10.
The extensive damage inflicted on the complex by record-strength Hurricane Irma obviously played a role too. What’s more, restrictions such as the minimum cell space for inmates have been sharpened over the years, adding to the problem.
The irony is that people on the island have been trying to tell the political establishment in The Hague that – especially considering its current socioeconomic situation – St. Maarten simply doesn’t have the means to build and staff a correctional institution which meets all foreseeable needs in the immediate future. However, particularly State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops maintained from the beginning it would not be correct to use disaster recovery funds for this purpose.
There was something to be said for his reasoning at the time, but because it will take at least six to 12 months before the current capacity of 70 can be brought to the desired 150, with all possible consequences, helping to seek affordable financing for a new prison seems like the most sensible option.
