Sovereignty needs to be accountable

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Police Civilian Oversight Authority’s (PCOA’s) findings on nine Area 3 lock-ups should disturb everyone who believes that punishment must remain subject to human dignity. Only four facilities complied with required cell-search schedules, five complied with physical cell checks, five were overcrowded, six lacked properly serviced fire extinguishers, and four had cockroach infestations. Most troubling was that many occupants were remand detainees who should have been under the Department of Correctional Services.

A detained person cannot leave an unsafe cell, obtain independent medical care, protect personal property, or compel officials to observe established procedures. The state therefore assumes an exceptional duty of care. Remand detainees are especially vulnerable because they have not been convicted and remain entitled to the presumption of innocence.

In July 2021, I wrote a letter on an “institutionalised culture of neglect” in Jamaica’s custodial system. Five years later, the PCOA’s report confirms that regulations, inspectors and oversight bodies exist, yet documented deficiencies persist. Oversight without mandatory correction risks becoming little more than the organised recording of neglect.

The recurring pattern is unmistakable: Jamaica creates accountability mechanisms, celebrates their existence, then too often fails to provide the enforcement, resources and political will needed to make them effective.

This accountability deficit extends beyond lock-ups. INDECOM reported that 311 people were fatally shot by police in 2025, a 65 per cent increase over 2024. Not every police shooting is unlawful, but such figures demand independent investigations, functioning body-worn cameras, transparent reporting, and timely judicial review. States of Public Emergency and Zones of Special Operations are legally different instruments, but their repeated use also reflects our dependence on exceptional and militarised responses where ordinary policing, social investment and efficient justice have failed.

The same contradiction appears internationally. Jamaica signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but has never ratified it. The International Criminal Court (ICC) would not ordinarily adjudicate individual police shootings; its jurisdiction concerns genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Nevertheless, our refusal to ratify reflects a wider preference for affirming human rights principles while resisting accountability beyond decisive governmental control. As Washington intensifies pressure against the ICC, Jamaica should not shelter behind another nation’s claim of sovereign exemption.

Sovereignty is not freedom from scrutiny. It is the moral and institutional confidence to submit public power to law. From The Hague to an overcrowded cell in Manchester, the principle is the same: those who exercise coercive authority must be answerable for how they treat those who cannot protect themselves.

DUDLEY MCLEAN II