Prisoners protest revised parole policy
Four of five prisoners are still at large, but this morning there were reports of shots being fired and all hell breaking loose inside the Tango eight, Tango Ten and the remand section at the Belize Central Prison which is run by the Kolbe foundation. Reports of a riot were broadcast over the radio waves. When our news team arrived at the facility, many of the prison employees were standing outside the gates. They were unsure of what really happened but many well armed police units were called to the prison. Several senior officers of the police department, even the Commissioner, Crispin Jeffries, were called to the scene. But rather than an all out riot, Kolbe’s C.E.O. John Woods says that it was much ado about nothing.
John Woods, C.E.O., Kolbe Foundation
“I think there was a whole bunch of hoopla made out of…well, legitimate concerns but still.”
Jose Sanchez
Was there a riot?”
John Woods
John Woods
“Not really. They were shaking the gates and stuff but that’s all.”
Jose Sanchez
“Did this have anything to do with the prisoners who escaped yesterday?”
John Woods
“I think it’s all a culmination. There is an awful amount of unrest on the outside and that has certainly spilled over to the inside. There was just a major change in the parole system and people are feeling totally disrespected that what they’ve been working for, for years has suddenly been taken away from them because of the change in parole. People thought they would have been able to get out after going through a rehabilitation process and serving one third of their time. And all of a sudden that has been changed to one half of their time. That might not have mean much for someone serving a four years sentence, but for someone serving fifteen years sentence, the difference between one third and one half is two and a half years.”
Jose Sanchez
“What was the reason given for the change?”
John Woods
“That was a government decision. There is an awful lot of ruction on the streets and it spilled over in here. Every time somebody gets killed people take it like that’s my brother that got killed and I’m going to get those guys that did it. So they get really upset.”
Jose Sanchez
“Is there any truth to the rumor that someone was shot?”
John Woods
“Definitely not. As far as I know there were no shots fired. But you saw me come in, I was out on the job. They were shaking the bars and that kind of stuff and then there are so many people that would love to tear the place down anyway and people are really going to jump on board. We don’t have guys in here for little offences; most of them in that area are remanded or murder.”
Jose Sanchez
“Was anyone injured?”
John Woods
“No as far as I know. I just walked in, did a walk through, talked to a bunch of the guys. I don’t know who pulled the plug and said all civilians outside and everything because there was never any danger of the thing escalating. I don’t know why that happened, who did it because I don’t think it was. It could have been police or somebody. I had no idea, I haven’t found that out yet because there was no call for it; absolutely no call for it. We have our day to day business going on; we got our records, we got accounts, we had processing of people, I even saw my head of rehab was out here. The head of the school was out here; that don’t make sense that’s why I got upset when I was coming in but I didn’t know. I was trying to find out what the heck was going on. I did not expect to see these people outside of these gates.”
Jose Sanchez
“Mr. Woods, rather than a riot, would you classify it as a protest by prisoners?”
John Woods
“Okay, you could say that. That sounds a little bit more dignified but the guys in there, I was talking to one of them and they get in the style of put things over their faces and say they are Taliban and all that stuff and it’s fight to the death type stuff won’t work, it’s not going to do it. In the past when the police have had to come in those guys have suffered so bad and we don’t need that kind of stuff.”
It seems that everything returned to normal before midday. However, the police accompanied by Kolbe guards have being going cell by cell in each of the sections there were disturbances to check for makeshift weapons that the prisoners may have created. There have been reports that some prisoners were not cooperative during the search and prison officials have also denied that they used tear gas to sustain the outbreak. The prison remains on lockdown tonight.
0 my Belizeans…we should respect these poor guys that are locked up….they have the right to protest for the parole system to continue reducing their time….Well, the hell with prisoners…no reduction should be done so that they learned and serve their full sentence…they always come out before the full sentence is served to commit other crimes outside….
kolbe need that along with the goverment there really chancey/.///////if good suffer for the bad //////why when u on the steet good not to suffer for the bad an high people say that if man run everybody pay………..,,,,,,,,simple///////////i see my brother suffer many days back in police an prison hand aka passam……………
Is Mr. Woods for real? I don’t know about you guys but when I hear that a person is sentenced to 10 years in prison I assume that it means 10 yrs and not three. It sounds to me like Mr. Woods is justifying the actions of these prisoners and if that’s the case perhaps its high time someone less bias runs the Department of Corrections
What we do not need is a guy who is in charge of the prison and treats prisoners as if though they are victims…..If they are victims it is of their own criminal behavior and their stupidity.
What the heck is a parole system without parole officers to whom the prisoners have to report to anyway? MR. WOODS needs to be held accountable for a so called parole system without parole officers…
yo yo, mr. woods only explaining what happened. he just obeys the rules.
Sounds more like Mr. Woods needs more support from his staff. I bet it’s hard to find reliable people to work at the prison.
We on the outside should protest that HANGING RETURNS!!
prison is the receptacle for society’s problem, stop blaming the trash bin, cause garbage that goes in will come out, only about 30-35 people serving time. Society needs to their own act together, Society created the trash…starting from each community you people come from. what do you do to make your community better? most of the people committing murders are not even in prison! cause they can’t be convicted!
the majority of people in prison are your own brothers and sisters, cousins, uncle, classmate, friends, who have fallen victim of drugs! they steal, rob, etc. for drugs, they are victims of drugs, neglected families, abusive relatives etc…GET A REALITY CHECK…
at prison they get an opportunity to go thru a drug/alcohol rehabilitation program (which is a must if they even want to be considered for parole). FYI people convicted of murder DO NOT GET PAROLE. And there are Parole Officers in each District, that meet the Parolee’s every month. Being on Parole does not mean a person is completely free, they are a wide range of restrictions. Mr. Woods does not sit on the Parole Board. The Board is appointed by the Minister.
CORRECTION: ONLY ABOUT 30-35 PEOPLE I BELIEVE ARE SERVING LIFE SENTENCES
Simple – don’t do the crime if you can’t handle the time! Life should mean life, 10 years should mean 10 years etc. The convicted criminals gave up their rights when they stripped their victims – REAL victims of theirs!!!!
Adding to Star’s comment, of the 1,290 inmates at Kolbe, only 11 are in there for murder.
Obviously, the trash bin isn’t the problem.
Go here for the statistics:
http://www.kolbe.bz/home/index.php?section=58
Stats for Number of Convicted Prisoners by Length of Imprisonment (Years): 2004 – 2009
http://www.kolbe.bz/home/index.php?action=view&id=19&module=resourcesmodule&src=%40random4bb36219c05fa
In 2009, of 1114 inmates, 2 are up for death sentence and 5 for life imprisonment.
The previous post showed 2003-2008 stats. And the 11 included murder and manslaughter. Guessing the 4 people who did not get the death sentence or life imprisonment were convicted of manslaughter.
Looks like a lot of people are getting away with murder and manslaugther and that is the fault of the courts, the police force and the community (bailing witnesses etc.).
Come on, how will the justice system work when these guys are released before completing their time. the more time they spend in prison the less criminal the police and we the people have to deal with. stop the non sense. 4 years is 4 years .do the crime pay the time
Mr Woods does not support his officers. The people who want to help run the prison properly are let go. There was a woman name Miss Kelly, who had background in prison work in America, she wanted to shape things up, she was gone in no time. Why, becasue Mr Woods has this crazy idea that he is running a Christian prison. There aint no such thing.
The Prison belongs to the Country of Belize, and yes it is managed by a Christian founded organization. Why? Because God and Jesus is love! It takes love to be able to deal with prisoners and try to turn around their lives. and because “The blood of our sires which hollows the sod, Brought freedom from slavery oppression’s rod By the might of truth and THE GRACE OF GOD!”
Religion is not imposed on prisoners. OW, do you know what ‘recividism rate’ means? ” measurement of the rate at which offenders commit other crimes”, the recividism rate from the prison has gone down from 75% to 13% within the past 7 years, based on the rehabilitation approach to managing the prison.
Why? because after their time served these same people will be coming out, there’s not two ways about it, you either try to change their way of thinking, or let them be and they come out angrier, vengeful and criminally smarter.
that 75% to 13% recividism rate is a significant change! I was surprised and impressed when I saw that statistic today. Again, another strong argument showing that the fingers need to pointed at institutions outside the prison.
I think the justice system in Belize is very corrupt and my reason is that my nephew was placed behind bars of a crime he didnot commit. Innocent people are inside of these walls. They are crying out for help but because of the word prisoner made people create a very bad mind towards these person. The whole system is messed up big time. If u do d crime spend the time but if you don`t do the crime why spend time.
Looks like these guys are trying to twist the constitution to fit themselves. Make no mistake criminals are protected by the constitution, however they cannot contest their prison scentence because that is the punishment ordained by the state for their criminal act, hence they must serve whatever time they are given. If they don’t like it, they should appeal it before the Privy Council who would actually give them more time in Jail. LOL
When will you all learn that the prison system is a business.These guys are given the minimum time so they could come out and commit more Crime so Attorneys from the Barrow Law firm can make more money.
Bring back Capital Punishment let’s hang some of these loosers.
Belize has become too Americanize which is not a good thing. No said the death penalty for murder, but if you have taken someone’s life, why should you be allowed the live or even have the rights of law abiding citizens. The sentence for murder should be life without parole, with no exception.
Anyone ever wonder how the family feels who have lost their loves to such crime and then have to feel it all over again when the person is allowed to reenter society after serving only 1/3 of the sentence, I am insulted to think that my country is turning into this.
Where are the values, morale and the Belizean culture because what we now witness is not our Belize.
to: ECF, sentence for murder IS life without Parole.
problem is that the prosecutor’s can’t convict, cause investigation is so crappy. Look at the case passport case where Simeon Sampson’s client (don’t remember the names) was acquitted because of how the police took down the person’s statement .
You know only 5 people serving life sentences in the prison!! ONLY 5!
The Laws in Belize got to be amended to fit the time period we’re living in.I am going to ask this question again.What happen to computer Forensics.The prosecution could have used telephone records and,the information that was on the computer hard drive to build a case on these crooks.Give me the job if you can’t do it.This is infant one level investigation.
everything in belize we blame, blame and blame. look its time for us to stand up and do our part. we only cry when its someone we know gets hurt, but when we see something happen we play blind.
we need a real jail….. i visited the jail in 2007 and my G, it was like a rehab for bad kids, also it needs some real prison guards not friends of the prisoners some real mean a$$ dude that knows how to be guards……….if someone is serving 1 day or life, he or she should be treated like a prisoner don’t have sympathy for anyone, if someone is remanded and remanded at the prison then he/she should be treated as well. a prison is not a place that you should have sympathy for no one, if you think that person should be free then you should not work at a prison, a prison guard must know that if that person was sent to prison or remanded to prison then he/she is a treat to the country…….rights prisoner wants rights, what about the victims of these prisoners, the love ones that lost family members, the people that work hard for stuff and got it stolen from them, the kids that ‘s been molested, the drug dealer that have your family member hook on that stuff, and many other scrime that is out …..wow!!!!
poor poor prisinors….f’**&(ck them let them rot, there.