Attorney General John Jeremie has revealed that he personally visited detainees at the Tetron facility last week to ensure they were alive and being treated appropriately.
This came as he elaborated on the government’s move to relocate certain prisoners from the Maximum Security Prison after the State of Emergency was implemented.
Following the implementation of the SOE on Friday July 18th, there was an overnight legal challenge, questioning the relocation of a detainee to a secure facility. The court, however, dismissed the application in its entirety.
Speaking in the Senate on a motion to “Approve the Prisons (No. 2) Order, 2025” on Tuesday, AG Jeremie explained the government’s decision to move the inmates, citing what he called an “existential threat” to national security. He revealed that he made an unannounced visit to the detainees held at Tetron last week before the Cabinet met.
“And I spoke to them. I went into their cells, and I spoke with them. I am not fielding requests for meals and better this and so on and so forth. I saw the premises, and I am not a prison expert, but I thought it was my responsibility to see that they were alive, that they were being treated appropriately.”
Despite criticism, he said the government is faced with balancing rights in “favour of the many.”
“Now, of course, everybody’s complaining. There are complaints about all manner of things, but these are persons who, to be frank, our intelligence services tell us were plotting some, they were an existential threat.”
He warned that the current threat could have been even greater than what the country faced in 1990.
“So if in 1990, persons were able to leave a compound in Mucurapo, where you had an army base right outside of the compound, persons were able to get from there in Mucurapo to here, to TTT, and other places in the country. They made an attempt at the airport. If that could happen in 1990, with the manpower that they had, which is nothing compared to the manpower that these people have today.”
The Attorney General also addressed concerns about the constitutionality of the emergency measures.
“Now, on the question of the constitutionality of various provisions in the Prisons Act, I like my chances.”
The Senate approved the Prison Order with 23 votes in favour, none against, and seven abstentions.