Male and female manslaughter convicts among ten paroled

Apr 10, 2017 News

A man serving a nine-year term for killing his lover’s husband, and a woman serving a 13-year sentence for the death of her spouse are among ten prisoners who were paroled on Wednesday.
They were all freed on Saturday.
The hunter had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the shooting death in January, 2008, of the husband of his lover. He had claimed that he was attempting to defend the woman, after the husband had attacked them with a cutlass. The accused had already spent four years in jail when he was convicted in 2012. A probation report had indicated that the accused had an unblemished record prior to the incident.
In the case of the convicted female, she was jailed for 13 years in 2010 for the death of her reputed husband. She was initially charged with murder but then pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Her attorney had stated that the accused had suffered at the hands of the victim and was undergoing counseling at the time of the incident.
Prison officials have described both manslaughter convicts as “model inmates.”
Last month, 460 prisoners countrywide were granted reduced sentences. Acting Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, had said that the ‘Special Remission’ was granted to these inmates, who are orderlies, for the country’s 47th Republic Anniversary.
“This is for prisoners who work in the prisons, and are not paid,” Samuels had said.
“It’s a form of reward for daily contribution to the prisons. They work in the tailor shops, farms, kitchens, clean the yards, transport self-support meals.
At the end of the month, we calculate the value of that labour. So, as a form of compensation, they receive Special Remission, which is reduced time on their sentences.
“It is a form of incentive for those who are serving long terms. If you look at the preparation of meals for 1,000 people a day (at the penal institutions), the bulk of it is done by prisoners.”
Among those benefiting from special remission are 64 inmates from the Georgetown Prisons, 89 male and female inmates from the New Amsterdam Prisons; 202 from Mazaruni; 59 from the Lusignan Prisons and 46 from the Timehri Prison.
A total of 8,743 days were taken off from the sentences.
The Acting Director said that in the past, inmates convicted for serious offences were not among those considered. This time, however, some who were convicted for capital offences were among those have had their sentences reduced.
According to Samuels, “many of them are well behaved and go beyond the call of duty of what is required.”

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