Neglect of prisoners’ health

A HIGH COURT judge yesterday criticised the TT Prison Service for what she described as “gross and inexcusable neglect” of the medical conditions of prisoners.

Sitting in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court, Madame Justice Joan Charles said those responsible for ensuring prisoners receive proper medical attention should be held criminally liable, when they failed to do so regarding the health of inmates.

According to the judge, prisoners — even those facing the death penalty — were entitled to proper medical care.

Charles’s criticism came following the sentencing of a partially deaf man, whose hearing impediment deteriorated because of lack of proper medical care while he was incarcerated, awaiting trial for murder.

Nigel ‘Spidey’ Lucas of Myra Lane, Sherwood Park in Arima was charged with the February 15, 1999 stabbing murder of 35-year-old Troy Webb and had been incarcerated for over seven years.

He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was yesterday placed on a bond of $75,000 and ordered to keep the peace for five years.

During the court proceeding, Lucas’ attorneys Keith Scotland and Celeste Jules ensured that he heard and understood what was being said.

Charles said while special treatment was not to be given to every incarcerated person with a medical condition, she decided to impose a non-custodial sentence on Lucas, because his case was “exceptional.”

The 36-year-old man could not be tried for the murder because he would not have been able to follow the proceedings — the right of anyone on trial for an offence.

According to the report of audiologist Mary Springer, Lucas was suffering from sensory neuron (mid-ear damage).

Although he had been fitted with a hearing aid, he was still unable to hear well because it amplified all other background noises.

He had great difficulty hearing the end of words and sentences, Springer’s report said.

Also, Springer said, the hearing aid had stopped working because the accompanying kit for the proper maintenance of the hearing apparatus was withheld from Lucas by prison officials.

Just last Friday UNC Chairman Basdeo Panday was granted $300,000 bail by Justice Anthony Carmona because of the his (Panday’s) failing health and the lack of medical facilities at the prisons. Attorney Tricia Hudlin appeared for the State.