President’s pleasure?

WHAT does it mean to be detained in prison “at the President’s pleasure”? If we take the case of Felix James, who was convicted for murder 28 years ago, when he was 17 years old, it may well mean that you become forgotten and lost in an uncaring prison system, regardless of your personal rehabilitation and your exemplary conduct. James, who stabbed his girlfriend to death in a fit of rage, was found guilty but insane and was sentenced to be kept in prison “at the President’s pleasure.” Together with the four years he spent in jail awaiting trial, James, now 49, has been living behind bars for a total of 32 years, which makes him the country’s longest serving  prisoner.

It is our view that, having regard to the circumstances of  his crime, his state of mind at the time, the length of period he has spent in jail, his excellent record as a prisoner and the honesty of his personal testimony, James now deserves to be given his freedom. For these reasons, this newspaper appeals to President Maxwell Richards to consider seriously the attempts that James has made to bring his case to the attention of the authorities. The President, of course, would not have known about James’s situation until now and, if he fully informs himself about it, we feel sure he would find no “pleasure” in having this long-serving prisoner spend any more time in jail. Out of desperation and the fear that he may eventually die in jail and because he was never given the opportunity to make representations about his lengthy incarceration, James has petitioned not only the President but also the Court in a bid to gain his freedom. In his affidavit he says, “I have expressed remorse and regret for the fact that my actions resulted in the loss of life of another human being. These expressions have been and remain sincere. I do not want to die in prison, but I feel as though I have been either lost in the prison system or forgotten.”

Also strongly in his favour is the commendation which James received from the authorities for bravery at the prison in 1991. James went to the assistance of a prison officer who was viciously attacked by one of the inmates at Carrera. He not only saved the officer from further injury but found the attacker who went into hiding on the island, apprehended him and turned him over to the prison authorities. In addition, James’s good conduct has resulted in his appointment as an assistant orderly whose job is to help in supervising other prisoners while they perform their daily duties. “I am not a risk to the public and I do not have any mental problems,” says James who sees no reason why, after 32 years, he should still be imprisoned. In our view, James is much more deserving of the exercise of mercy than some of the prisoners who have committed more cold-blooded murders but have been granted pardons by the Mercy Committee over the years, mostly as part of the country’s independence anniversary observations. In 1987, for example, under the newly elected NAR government, President Noor Hassanali granted pardons to eight convicted murderers on the recommendation of the Mercy Committee. Among those pardoned were two men who were convicted for the slaying of policeman Austin Sankar and another for the murder of Joseph Skerritt. The fact is that none of these pardoned killers spent as long a time in prison as James and, compared to them, it cannot be his particular misfortune to be jailed “at the President’s pleasure.” In legal terms, we must ask the question again, what does that really mean? Faced with James’s appeal, President Richards himself may well want to find out.