Prisoners on hunger strike want “humane treatment”

POINTE BLANCHE, St. Maarten-APPROXIMATELY thirteen inmates at the Pointe Blanche House of Detention have said that they will continue to refuse eating their daily meals until prison officials address their health and sanitation concerns.

The silent protest is a continuation of dissent which began at the facility on September 25 over the installation of a phone call monitoring system that led to a small riot which damaged telephone lines and caused six inmates to be transferred to the Bon Futuro Prison in Curacao.

Inmates allegedly complained that the prison is spending money on things like new telephone systems while items like proper shower facilities and filters for clean drinking water continue to be ignored. One inmate told The Daily Herald that the hunger strike will go on “for as long as it takes” until their demands are met. ~~Adz:Right~~

“Nobody’s arguing the fact that we are in here; nobody’s arguing the fact that we did our crime and we must do the time. The thing we’re arguing is our inhumane treatment,” the prisoner told the paper.

Prison Director Rudsel Ricardo said that the House of Detention had been slated to receive a structural upgrade which would allow the inmates to have “clean and adequate living facilities”, but was quick to note that it would take time to get estimates and hire contractors for the job.

Inmates are insisting that the prison is downplaying their concerns by continuing with the telephone monitoring system and deporting the “riot instigators” to Curacao.

“They’re going into a prison where the mentality is already that St. Maarteners are inferior,” the inmate told The Daily Herald, alleging that those sent to Bon Futuro from Pointe Blanche often have violence perpetrated against them and are forced to return to St. Maarten for their own safety.