Inmates on hunger strike
third day, plan to continue
POINTE BLANCHE--Some inmates at the Pointe Blanche House of Detention have been silently protesting the facility’s policies since Sunday by refusing to eat meals prepared for them.
At least 13 have been accepting the food at the daily meal times, but they have not eaten, quietly defying what many inmates call wasteful spending by prison management and the apparent lack of attention to prisoners’ health and hygiene.
An inmate participating in the hunger strike criticised the prison’s recently-installed telephone-jamming system while a long-discussed filtration unit to provide clean drinking and bath water was still on the waiting-list. “We don’t like the fact that they have money to do all kinds of things,” an inmate told The Daily Herald. “The only thing we can do is keep up with the hunger strike.”
The inmates plan to continue the hunger strike for as long as necessary “until things are put right.”
Inmates rioted in the prison Thursday, destroying the institution’s property and cursing at prison officials in protest of the “jammer” that had been installed the night before. Six inmates have been pegged to go to Curaçao’s Bon Futuro Prison.
Prison Director Rudsel Ricardo said the Antillean Justice Ministry had been planning a structural remodelling of the premises to provide clean and adequate living facilities for inmates. He noted the extent of the work, saying the process of evaluating the necessary repairs, opening the bid for work and then hiring contractors would mean that repairs wouldn’t be carried out immediately.
The inmates said Friday that the prison was downplaying their concerns and they wanted at least “humane treatment” during their time spent behind bars.
