No right to Smallie’s body!

Jun 13, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – The last time the gallows were prepared for the hangman’s noose was in 1997. A fair crowd, including family members of those being executed, gathered in a somber mood on Durban Street, outside of the Georgetown Prisons.

Inside the prison there was silence, a show of respect by the prisoners that one of their inmates was being sent to his Maker. The moment the sentence of death was carried out was known only by the sound of the fly-door opening. It made a noise that carried to those assembled on Durban Street, most out of curiosity and to be part of something that did not happen often in the country.

The bodies of those executed were not handed over to the families. The bodies were removed and whisked away by the hearse. It was reported that the bodies were interred in unmarked graves. There was no viewing, no funeral service and no possibility of placing a ‘spliff’ in the coffin. The State retained control of the bodies.

Rockliffe Ross was hanged on June 4th 1996 at 8:00 hrs. He had killed a boy who was on his way on his first day to work at noon, Ross’s body was whisked out of the prisons and he was buried in an unmarked grave.

That has always been the tradition since colonial times. The Rev. John Smith who was sentenced to death for his alleged role in the 1823 Slave Uprising died before his sentence could be carried out or before news of his reprieve reached Guyana. He died allegedly from a medical condition and even though he was not hanged he was buried in an unmarked grave. This points to the fact that the bodies of death row prisoners were not handed over to their families even if capital punishment was not carried out.

There are several reasons why death row inmates are buried in unmarked graves. The first of these is to discourage the glorification or martyrdom of these individuals. The Americans dumped the body of Osama Bin Laden’s body at sea even though he was never even tried for the offences for which his manhunt was launched. There is also the risk that persons who had reason to dislike the deceased would desecrate his grave.

Unmarked graves for death row prisoners can be seen as a symbolic way of indicating that their crimes were so heinous that they are unworthy of a named and marked grave. It reflects society’s judgment and disapproval of the crimes for which they were convicted.

There is therefore a tradition that the remains of death row inmates are not handed over to families and are buried in unmarked graves. It was therefore surprising to read that the body of Royden Williams, a death row inmate and mass-murder convict, was placed on view for a limited number of family and other members.

So was his family entitled to a viewing and would his remains be handed over to the family seeing that he was a death row inmate? The Prison Act allows for the bodies of persons who died in custody to be handed over to their relatives providing it is not injurious to do so.

But by convention, this rule surely does not apply to death row prisoners. For hundreds of years, it has not been the practice to hand over the remains of death row prisoners to their relatives for burial.

While the capital punishment was not carried out, he was on death row. The fact that he had appeals pending was immaterial since it is only a court which could vacate his conviction. Until this happens, he remained a death row prisoner.

The fact that Royden Williams escaped does not negate his status as a convicted death row prisoner. He was not entitled to the sort of funeral that he received and his family had no rights to his body.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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D'Urban Street, family, Georgetown Prisons, Peeping Tom, Smallie’s

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