To St. Maarten Minister of Justice
Mr. Franklyn Richards, Member of the Council on Law Enforcement, on Wednesday February 26th presented its report, ‘Detention capacity in Sint Maarten’ to St. Maarten’s Minister of Justice, Mr. Dennis Richardson.
In accepting the report, Minister Richardson expressed gratitude and indicated that the findings mentioned in the report serve to guide initiatives aimed at improving the overall situation regarding the detention capacity in St. Maarten.
Pursuant to the Kingdom Act on the Law Enforcement Council the Minister will be given the opportunity to send the advice to Parliament within six weeks, along with his policy response. After six weeks the report will be available for downloading at www.raadrechtshandhaving.com.
In this inspection the Council investigated whether the detention capacity in Sint Maarten matches up to the need. According to the Council it is of great importance to analyze how many cell spaces are minimally necessary to meet the need in cell capacity. This is important in view of the plans of the ministry of Justice to expand the detention capacity on Sint Maarten – which involves high costs – and now that according to those directly involved the extent of the shortage of cells increases.
The actual execution of judgments after all is of great importance for the functioning of the criminal justice system. The Council is of the opinion that a state under the rule of law, in which judgments from judges are not executed, undermines itself.
In order to establish whether the detention capacity on Sint Maarten links up with the need the Council has calculated that on Sint Maarten there is a need for at least 251 cell spaces, while presently there are 143. That means that of all prison sentences imposed by the court (besides the part that as a result of conditional release is not executed), a considerable part – according to estimate at least 40% – cannot be executed.
These 251 cell spaces is a cautious calculation. A number of factors influence the real need. If Sint Maarten is serious about the implementation of the provisions in the Constitution about separated detention and treatment of convicted persons, non-convicted persons and youths – the Council considers this very urgent – that will mean that more cell spaces are needed. Further the law enforcement on Sint Maarten in practice anticipates on the capacity problem and the choice is made for sanctions and measures which avoid detention, for instance an entire conditional demand from the public prosecution service or policy which is directed to
releasing certain category suspects during pretrial detention. In the report the Council mentions a number of factors.
It can be expected that with sufficient detention capacity this practice will change and more cells are needed. It should be avoided that a vicious circle is created: an increase of the detention capacity results in imposing and executing of more prison sentences, through which again a shortage in detention capacity is created. Moreover a significant increase of the part of minors and young adults in (often serious forms of) criminality is to be seen.
The Council endorses that creating of detention places is not the greatest problem, but the maintenance of a proper level of treatment is, because not only extra cells need to be provided for, but also for well trained personnel and adequate treatment of detainees. For abovementioned reasons the Council thinks that the expansion of the cell capacity is not the only answer to the problem.
Therefore alternatives must be developed for prison sentence. The Council has investigated several possibilities, such as regional examples of integral policy directed to prevention, expansion of the possibilities of electronic supervision and the improvement of the registration of information within the law enforcement chain.
The challenge therefore especially seems to be, building on sanctioning policy which protects the society against crime and offers young generations on Sint Maarten chances.
About the Council
The Council on Law Enforcement was established in 2011 by Kingdom decree. The Council on Law Enforcement is an inter-insular independent body, responsible for the inspection of the various organizations within the justice system. The ultimate objective is to provide recommendations to the Ministers of Justice of the three countries of the Dutch Kingdom in order to correct shortcomings. The Council consists of three members who are appointed by Royal Decree and represent respectively Curacao, the Netherlands for the BES islands and Sint Maarten.
The Council has a secretariat with offices in St. Maarten, Curacao and Bonaire. The Secretariat of the Council on Law Enforcement in St. Maarten is located in the Joeliva Building, Charles Voges Street 7 in Philipsburg. The telephone number for the secretariat in St. Maarten is 542-9021.
For further information on the Council on Law Enforcement, visit the website: