SHATTERED LIVES

Thousands of Jamaicans incarcerated overseas as their dreams wither away

Trudy Simpson, Senior Gleaner Reporter

LONDON, England: IN THE minds of many Jamaicans, coming to countries like the United Kingdom (UK) is the chance to fulfil their dreams of a better life. However, for many, this dream is soon shattered and they find themselves in a place they never imagined - prison.

Statistics vary depending on the source, but official figures from the UK's Ministry of Justice show that in 2009, there were 1,084 Jamaican nationals in prisons in England and Wales, serving time for offences ranging from violence against the person to fraud, forgery and drug offences.

The Ministry of Justice said 954 were men and 130 were women, far lower than the 2,808 Jamaicans who were recorded as being in UK prisons in 2003.

A breakdown of offences by nationality submitted to the House of Commons shows that in 2009, 300 of these 1,084 Jamaican prisoners were jailed for drug offences.

While the House of Commons figures did not have a gender breakdown, one London-based charity worker told The Sunday Gleaner last Friday that just over 50 Jamaican women are currently in prison for being drug mules. This is a much smaller number than a few years ago when hundreds of Jamaican women got between three and 12 years in prison for trafficking or selling drugs such as cocaine.

"The numbers have dropped drastically," said Olga Heaven, award-winning director and founding member of London-based Hibiscus Foundation, which works with Jamaican women serving time in UK prisons.

"We went through a phase when we had nearly 600 Jamaican women here, but we had a lot of public education and, of course, there are the deterrents that the UK Border Agency put in and (which are) in Jamaica as well to stop the flow of the cocaine," Heaven said.

" ... When you go in (to visit prisons), you might see one or two Jamaicans. Jamaica has done very good in terms of deterring people from coming here with drugs ... but we have been consistent through our educational campaign in Jamaica."

fighting temptations

She added: "We should be consistent and keep that momentum going to make sure it doesn't happen again ... . If nobody talks about it for a year, you'll be surprised at how much the numbers begin to creep up again ... . If we don't keep the momentum going, people will forget, and if you live in a country where there is any kind of economical hardships - unemployment etc., - you will be tempted."

Neasha Clarke, who works with male prisoners at her charity, the Diaspora Support Network in Brixton, south London, agreed, stating that Nigerian men in prison now outnumber Jamaican men, which means Jamaica now has the second highest rate of people in UK prisons.

Heaven said the majority of prisoners she works with are visa overstayers ensnared in the trade, either selling drugs or importing it, because they are desperate for money.

"The profile of a person who is supplying here is a person who is living here illegally. They are not able to work or claim benefits and they need to survive. They would be put on the street to supply drugs ... . They are trying to send money to the children they left back home or they are trying to live, to pay rent and buy food. They see it as a way of survival and in the process of surviving they don't think about the consequences," Heaven said.

She added: "The profile for us that we would see of a drug mule from Jamaica would be somebody who is in their mid-30s with two or three children. She would be unemployed for a number of years or she has never been employed; being looked after by possibly a 'babyfather' and did it [carry drugs] out of desperation either to pay somebody money she owes them or for school fees, rent or whatever.

"She may have done it in August to pay the school fee for September. That is the sort of profile that we see. Normally, it is for a specific reason, bearing in mind that these women are usually paid between £1,000 and £2,000."

Clarke, whose charity also gives advice and support to Jamaican and Nigerian men in prison, some of whom are facing deportation, explained: "It all boils down to money."

However, Clarke added that richer, educated and more "uptown" Jamaican men have ended up in the drug trade and jailed overseas for reasons other than economic or social hardship.

"The majority of people do come from economically poorer backgrounds but you will find that there are people who have done it for the quick money as well, [people] who possibly didn't need to," Clarke said. "They come from uptown areas but they still do it.

"You get people who are wealthy people, they have done well, they live in a nice area (but) they have decided to do it because they can make X amount of money quickly, or they have a (drug) habit themselves. That's another thing. More and more Jamaicans of that background are on class-A drugs and then to support the habit, they all carry drugs ... . Usually, it would be weed but now it's crack-cocaine habits and God help us if it goes on to heroin."

Both Clarke and Heaven criticised reported UK plans to try to alter prisoner transfer agreements to make deportations swifter by making sure foreign prisoners can no longer legally object to being deported to serve their prison time in the countries where they were born.

deportation being explored

A ministry of justice spokesperson told The Sunday Gleaner that in addition to an existing scheme allowing foreign prisoners to be removed up to 270 days before eligibility for release, "We are exploring how sentencing and punishments could ensure more of these offenders are removed from the country."

The spokesperson continued: "This includes using simple and conditional cautions to divert from prosecution of foreign offenders who have committed certain offences on condition that they leave the UK."

He added: "We will begin piloting the use of simple cautions shortly before legislating to make conditional cautions available. Diverting such cases from prosecution will create savings for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, courts and the UK Border Agency."

These plans were outlined in the UK government's sentencing Green Paper, entitled 'Breaking the Cycle', published last December which, the ministry spokesperson said "includes our proposals to remove foreign national prisoners, including those from Jamaica, at the end of their sentence unless they have a legal right to remain here."

But Clarke said this was not always the case. "One of the things we are noticing is people who have a legal right to be here, but they are being deported because their stay is being revoked and they haven't applied for citizenship. That's happening a lot," she said.