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Minister could have ordered that Blackman be sent to mental hospital

Feb 09, 2010 News

… Georgetown Prisons double murder

Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, could have ordered that the late prisoner, Solomon Blackman, be kept at a mental hospital until he was deemed fit to return to the prison environment.
The minister had said that to commit persons of unsound mind who are imprisoned to the mental hospital required an order from the court.
However, the laws of Guyana, Chapter 11:01, Section 26 (1) states “Whenever a prisoner or person detained in a prison or lockups appears to the Minister on the certificate of a government medical officer to be of unsound mind, the Minister may direct his removal to the mental hospital, there to be kept and treated as if such person had been detained in the mental hospital under the mental hospital ordinance until the medical superintendent of the mental hospital certifies that such prisoner or person has ceased to require treatment in that institution.”
Former Home Affairs Minister, Gail Teixeira, had ordered that Blackman be sent to the mental hospital in Berbice. This was during a meeting with inmates following a mini riot in 2006.
Kaieteur News understands that all mental cases within the prison are facilitated by a fortnightly clinic under the supervision of a senior government psychologist.
“These men don’t show any symptoms of their illness, so it is sometimes difficult for us at the prisons. In the prison environment these things come up,” a source at the Camp Street jail told this newspaper.
The source pointed out that the prison cannot refuse to accept an inmate who is sent there by the court.
However, as the law indicates, the Minister of Home Affairs is the person who is vested with the power to order that a prisoner be sent to the mental hospital.
Last Friday morning, Solomon Blackman, who was perceived to be mentally incapable of standing trial, bludgeoned fellow inmate, Dawan Dyal Singh, to death while they were both being housed in the capital section of the Camp Street Prison.
Blackman himself was beaten to death by other inmates immediately after he killed Singh.
Concerns were raised about the wisdom by prison officials to place Blackman among other prisoners, especially since he has been displaying violent tendencies.
Blackman was charged for murder committed on two policemen on 2004-03-01. This was after he walked into the Brickdam Police Station compound and disarmed a rank there and opened fire indiscriminately.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement last Friday stated that Blackman was unstable having been deemed to be of unsound mind. But according to the Ministry, recently, due to persistent medical treatment he showed some improvement.  Consequently, he was removed from the Social Division and allowed to live and mix with the general population.
A senior prison official told this newspaper that while 98 per cent of the mentally ill prisoners readily accept their medication, Blackman was one of the few who refused to take his.

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