Attorney-at-law Bert Samuels. In April 2011, our parliament, having examined the original fundamental rights and freedoms contained in our Constitution, passed the new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. We had experienced before then, 49 years of the constitutional rights in the old Chapter Three of that supreme law. The approach and rationale leading to this new 2011 Charter of Rights is recited in the preamble to the Charter as follows; – “Whereas a Constitutional Commission established by Parliament recommended, after wide public consultation and due deliberation, that Chapter III of the Constitution of Jamaica should be replaced by a new Chapter which provides more comprehensive and effective protection for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons in Jamaica.” The Charter took the opportunity to strengthen existing rights and created new ones, reflecting a maturity in our outlook on citizens’ rights and freedoms. Among these newly established rights was that given to those whose liberty has been taken away. This group includes persons serving a term of imprisonment as well as those otherwise detained by the State. At Section 14 (5), the Charter confers on those deprived of their liberty the right to be “ treated humanely and […]
