Time for a parole board!

Attorney at law, Marlon Gordon, will be appealing to the Governor General for a special panel to rule. (FP)

By Dawne Parris | Sun, July 01, 2012 - 12:10 AM

A CRIMINAL LAWYER has suggested that Barbados take a “progressive step” in the delivery of justice and set up a parole board to consider whether deserving prisoners should be released early.

In the meantime, that attorney at law, Marlon Gordon, will be appealing to the Governor General – following a suggestion by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – for a special panel to rule on cases in which convicts did not have time they spent on remand, prior to conviction, taken into consideration on sentencing.

He made the suggestion in an interview with the SUNDAY SUN after failing to persuade the CCJ last month to give his client Jerry “Jerry Dan” Weekes more time to apply for leave to appeal the 14-year sentence imposed on him for the June 24, 2001 manslaughter of Brian “Benji” Whittaker.

“There should be a parole board that could take some of the power that the Governor General is now being asked to exercise, in terms of clemency. I think it would be an improvement in terms of the whole justice delivery and reform and how we treat the people who are in the prison,” Gordon said.

Please read the full story in today’s SUNDAY SUN, or in the eNATION edition.

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Posted by yogi Ni 10 months, 3 weeks ago: Are people in jail because they are good law abiding citizens, or because they have gone a fowl of the law? I do agree some people learn from their mistakes and can be given a chance if it is proven they are remorseful and have turned their life's around in prison. The problem I have is letting people who have committed very serious crimes, especially murder and manslaughter. I honestly believe that anyone who committed murder and had a previous criminal record before should serve the time imposed by the court, no parole for any such person. In the USA a most people on parole end back up in prison.

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Posted by Mary Yearwood 10 months, 3 weeks ago: Don't do it! It will become a vicious cycle just as it is here in the US, where the criminals are in and out of jail as if they are spending time in a motel for a short-term stay. Many of them (the criminals) love the fact that they will be given such "mostly undeserving" consideration and have no qualms about returning to jail because they know they will be back on the streets soon.
Mr. Gordon has asked for the change in law only because of what happened in the case of his client. If the law is changed because of one person's disagreement with the Governor General, then it is not fair to the rest of society and you will see a steady increase in crime, as that would be rewarding those who break the law with such consideration.

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Posted by J. Payne 10 months, 3 weeks ago: Barbados criminal system used to work. Then the "experts" suggested changes to bring it more in line with Americas and crime became worse, and worse, and worse. Let them keep it up! Soon we might as well stop spending money on it all together and toss the whole thing out.

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Posted by Pan Wallie 10 months, 3 weeks ago: Much needed and overdue. It looks like our brand new prison will soon be full to the brim, which in itself is a security risk. However any criteria and structure for parole must be right, and qualification must not be at the urgings of attorneys or any one else for that matter seeking gratification. The timing is of concern though because recession has us in a bind. To parole when the economy is not conducive to industrious or even educational prospects, spells trouble. My choice would be a halfway house where the resources (cost and human) would not be as great, since that level of monitoring would not be required. Either way, when the economy gets better.