Prison strip search not retaliation, Gov says

Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor has stepped into a back-and-forth war of words over whether prison officers at Her Majesty’s Prison at Fairbanks retaliated against three teenage female prisoners in December 2010.  

A 3 December, 2010, letter complaining about the prison officers at Fairbanks was opened and read by one of the guards. A day later a team of at least nine officers was involved in search of the prison dorm that ended in a strip search of the three prisoners and the recovery of two cell phones. Cell phones are contraband within the prison.  

“The key issue here is whether the strip search was carried out as a deliberate act of retaliation for the writing of letters of complaint,” Governor Taylor wrote in a 10 February letter. “I do not believe that it was.”  

According to information obtained by the Caymanian Compass, two prison officers involved in the search of the Fairbanks dorm reported hearing one of the guards involved in the strip search state: “That’s what you get for writing letters about officers”.  

Testimony from one of the guards taken during a prison system investigation into the incident noted: “I am not sure how to put it word for word but my understanding was that the search was brought on by some letters wrote and something was said about ‘that’s what happens when you write letters’.”  

During his personal review of the matter, Governor Taylor said he took into account that these statements were made by one of the prison officers. However, he said that fact by itself does not prove the 4 December, 2010, search at Fairbanks was retaliatory.  

“I have personally spoken to the prison officer who heard the intelligence [regarding inmate possession of a cell phone] which gave rise to the search,” Mr. Taylor wrote.  

“It was he who decided to carry out a search and he and he alone… decided that the search should begin with a strip search. 

“At that time, he was unaware of the existence of the letters of complaint written the previous day.”  

Mr. Taylor points out that the remark by the prison officer was determined to be inappropriate and that two prison officers were actually disciplined over the search. That discipline included written reprimands and “sensitivity training” for the officer. 

Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams finding that the search had “an element of retaliation” was “compatible” with the initial findings by the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs, which investigated the strip search incident, Mr. Taylor said.  

Ms Williams ruled in October that the apology made by the portfolio and discipline of the prison officers was appropriate and she recommended no further action with regard to the strip search matter.  

Prison review  

Despite the finding in the Fairbanks strip search case, the government portfolio responsible for managing the prisons has decided to conduct a full operational review of the system with an eye toward completing it by July.  

Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs Chief Officer Eric Bush said the review would look into all operational details of the prison system including security, policies, and compatibility with the Cayman Islands Bill of Rights, which comes into effect for prisons in November 2013.  

The last such wholesale review of the prison was completed in 2001.  

“I think it’s time to do one,” Mr. Bush said.  

One of the matters to be considered in the prison review is whether to move the women’s prison from the Fairbanks location to an area at the current men’s lock up at Northward.  

The proposal would free up space at Fairbanks for the Immigration Detention Centre, which has been shuttered because it is unsafe.  

Mr. Bush said it was largely a matter of funding as to when that move might happen.  

“It certainly couldn’t happen this budget year,” he said.  

Cayman’s current fiscal year ends on 30 June.