Stop putting people in jail for marijuana- Doug Wheatley
Host of the ‘Speak Out BVI’ radio programme on ZBVI 780 AM, Doug Wheatley said he is not sold on the idea that this is the solution to the overcrowding at the Balsam Ghut facility, rather a halt on imprisoning persons for the use of the marijuana herb is more practical.
“From my point of view I think we should just forget about that,” he said on his show on October 4, 2016, adding that the territory in his view wants to pattern too much after the United States of America.
“…But the United States is a mess in terms of the criminal justice system and I don’t think that there are many things that they can teach us about criminal justice, all you have to do is look at the television and see what a mess this whole criminal justice system is. I think we have a little prison here and I think we can manage it and do so successfully we need to do a couple of things before we do that,” Wheatley argued.
Marijuana not a drug; send expat offenders home
He continued, “First of all I think we need to stop putting people in jail for marijuana and that will create quite a space in the prison. We don’t need to do that because we understand it has been said over and repeated times that marijuana is not a drug and we should not be locking up people for smoking them and that will free up a lot of cells,” he pointed out.
The outspoken talk show host also had another suggestion in mind. According to him, there are a lot of people not belonging to the VI who are occupying a lot of space in Her Majesty’s Prison and perhaps the territory might consider having an arrangement with some of the Caribbean islands and other countries whereby if some of their nationals commit crimes in the territory, they would serve a certain amount of time in the VI cells and then be transferred to their country’s prison to serve the remainder of their time.
“As the prison situation is right now we can do something about it to reduce the numbers without bringing in some system from the United States or from Barbados,” Wheatley insisted.
3-month Pilot Programme
According to a press release from the Government Information Service (GIS), this pilot programme will play an integral part in a national crime reduction strategy and offer significant cost saving benefits to the Government of the Virgin Islands as compared to the cost of incarceration. Additionally, it will offer adequate and accessible options to support offender management by the Probation and Parole Division within the Social Development Department.
Deputy Secretary within the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Ms Tasha K. Bertie said the Ministry has come to the realisation that there is a problem in addressing the present state of offenders in the territory.
She was quoted as saying: “The issue of the prison population and juveniles in conflict with the law is a pressing concern for the territory. We must be able to address this issue without infringing on the human rights of these individuals. The development of this partnership is one of the avenues we are exploring, with hopes that it will address some of these concerns.”
The pilot programme will run over a three month period.
Director of Comprehensive Security Solution Incorporated, Mr Ryan Clarke presented to the key stakeholders from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, Her Majesty’s Prison, probation and parole officers within the Social Development Department, as well as officials from the Ministry of Health.
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23 Responses to “Stop putting people in jail for marijuana- Doug Wheatley”
I don't know if it is here yet but, the bag says scoobyDoo,Sudden Death Etc...
.
Also it needs to be sold in local pharmacy's.
I agree it will free up the cluttered space at HMP prisoners
for marijuana offences.