Superintendent of Prisons in Anguilla, Conrad Gumbs, says the time is ripe to begin a process of paroling prisoners to give young rehabilitated offenders a chance to be accepted back into society as opposed to rotting in jail.

Mr. Conrad Gumbs

Mr. Gumbs, speaking in an interview with the Anguillian, has been spearheading that initiative for the past ten years and it is only since the appointment of former Governor Andrew George, that some attention was given to the matter. It is therefore largely to his credit that the Parole of Prisoners Bill 2008 is before the Anguilla House of Assembly. The draft legislation, like the Probation Bill, was given its first reading last month but was held back pending a public consultation which has already taken place.

Known for his forthrightness, Mr. Gumbs said he did not agree with many members of the public that Anguilla was not ready for a parole system. He drew the following analogy to stress his view on the paroling of prisoners: “In the 1980s when Social Security was introduced, there was the same sentiment that Anguilla was not ready for it because the economy was very weak and fragile. Today, Social Security is one of the strongest statutory institutions on the island but it had to start from scratch. I think if we start the parole system now, in the next 10-15 years we will be proud of our decision.” Noting opposition in some quarters to the proposed move, he asserted: “One of the problems that our leaders in Anguilla need to understand is that if they can’t offend, they can’t defend. They are not going to please everybody. I don’t think that even God does either. Decisions have to be made whether they are popular or unpopular, once they are in the best interest of society.”
He went on: “We can’t jail these young fellows and have them as it were rotting in jail. They have to be given an opportunity to go back into society and help themselves. If they are not given that opportunity, they will still be a social burden in prison and if you keep a prisoner so long in jail without trying to reform him, when he goes out he will still be a social problem. If we want to help him…we can make him a responsible person and he will not be a social problem.”

Mr. Gumbs said that parole was not like the Comprehensive Education system introduced in Anguilla in 1984 – whereby a child went straight to high school whether he or she could read or write. “Parole is something you have to work to earn,” he stated. “In other words, if you are sentenced to prison for four or five years, and you want to get out on parole, you have to take part in all the programmes offered by the prison: educational and spiritual and work programmes and your behaviour has to be excellent, If you don’t meet that criteria, you will not be qualified. You can apply, but you will not get out on parole if you don’t meet those requirements.”

The Prison Superintendent said incarcerated persons could apply for parole when they have served fifty percent of their sentence of a year or more. He explained that while any prisoner could apply for parole, a category A prisoner would not be paroled. Such a person is one who, if he escaped, would be a threat to society. To be given parole, a prisoner “would have to drop from category A to C or D by behaving himself, cooperating with prison regulations and participating in programmes to prove to the prison authorities that he has rehabilitated himself,” Mr. Gumbs said. “When we are so convinced, that’s the time that we should have a better opportunity to convince the Parole Board that he is eligible and qualified to be on parole.”

Ever drawing comparisons to put across his view, Mr. Gumbs had this to say: “Parole is something like a loan. You borrow money from a bank and if you don’t repay the loan, the bank will lean on your property. If a prisoner is put on parole, he would be monitored by a Probation Officer. If he breached his parole, he would be returned to prison to serve the rest if his time. So when he is on parole he is not out there on his own; he is still serving prison outside of prison. He may have curfews on him or have restricted areas imposed on him or he may have a monitor on him. It is not a slack system as some people may believe. Parole is a system to assist prisoners to get out and live more responsible lives. It is not being introduced as many people may think to reduce overcrowding.”

Frontal view of Her Majesty’s Prison and perimeter fence

Mr. Gumbs said that apart from educational and spiritual programmes, the Prison Department regularly engaged the inmates in private work including construction, painting and auto-mechanics as part of their rehabilitation process. One outstanding project is the old police station at Sandy Hill which the prisoners have attractively repaired. He said that although a prison tutor was in place, there was a need for volunteers to teach such special subjects such as Maths, English and History. “There are pretty young people in prison and though some of them have long-term sentences, they can make the best of their time in prison, then go out in society and be able to function without any discrimination and hold proper jobs in the community. Compared with other parts of the Caribbean, which I have visited, prisoners in Anguilla are accepted in society with open arms,” he told The Anguillian.

Mr. Gumbs said that a Sentence Planning Committee was also in being to work with prisoners, identify their problems and see how they could use their talents while in prison. Asked about discipline, he stated that it was expected that persons who lost their freedom and confined to less that two acres of property, would become stressful, resulting in sporadic bad behaviour. He acknowledged that parole was a sensitive issue and that it must be carefully examined and executed.

“People have to put their trust in the prison staff working with the inmates,” Mr. Gumbs stressed.

“I can understand the public’s sentiments but we work with the prisoners and know their behaviour. We know those who are trying to reform and who are not. It is a matter of good sound judgment and it will be absolutely no nepotism, no favouritism in the decision-making. Both the Prison Department and the Parole Board have to be impartial, if not the whole system will be jeopardised. What we are trying to do is to make the inmates better people so that persons in the community can feel safer living among them.

Gumbs said he had been the driving force behind the parole system but his efforts had been overlooked until the arrival of Governor George. “He looked on it favourably and asked the Permanent Secretary to set up a committee to look into the required legislation,” the Prison Superintendent recalled, that some areas were taken from similar legislative measures in Montserrat and other territories.

In speaking about the need for a parole of prisoners who have met the necessary requirements, and have gone through the phases of the parole system, Mr. Gumbs encouraged members of the public to be supportive of the effort and to understand the intent of the legislation when it comes again before the House of Assembly for consideration and passage Noting the sensitivity of the matter, he assured the public that when the time comes for the parole of a prisoner to be examined that the interest of the victim and the victim’s family would be duly considered.

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