ALTHOUGH her party, during the general election campaigning had promised to resume hangings if the UNC were returned to political power, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said on Thursday April 15, that government could not have the death penalty carried out – at this time.
Speaking at the post-cabinet press conference at the Red House, Persad-Bissessar sought to give the country an update regarding the issue of carrying out the death penalty as the ultimate form of punishment for certain heinous crimes.
She said she had instructed the Minister of Homeland Security (Roger Alexander), the Minister of Justice (Devesh Maharaj) and the Attorney General (John Jeremie) to update the Cabinet on the issue of the resumption of hangings.
"The number of inmates on Death Row as of May 10, is 38. Of these 38 inmates, only 18 are eligible to be hanged if we are to accept that these 18 have been sentenced to death and are yet under the five-year timeline established by the Pratt and Morgan ruling by the Privy Council."
The Pratt and Morgan ruling of the council is considered a landmark ruling as it set out a specific time frame in which a person can be executed – five years – once all legal avenues of appeal of the sentence are met and exhausted within the five-year period.
Earl Pratt and Ivan Morgan were Jamaican inmates sentenced to death in 1979. Their case, Pratt and Morgan v. The Attorney General for Jamaica, is a landmark one because the Privy Council ruled that a prolonged delay in executing a death sentence constituted cruel and inhuman punishment, violating the Jamaican Constitution.
The ruling has been adopted in several jurisdictions within the Commonwealth including TT. Once five years have elapsed from the date of conviction and sentencing (of death) the sentence is commuted to life in prison or imprisonment at the President's/State's pleasure.
She said the other 20 inmates could not be hanged as they had passed the five-year limitation as outlined in the Privy Council's ruling. Regarding the other 18 who are still eligible to hang, the PM said not one of them can be put to death by the state since they all have appeals (against their sentence) pending before the courts.
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