Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Antigua&Barbuda.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Antigua &
Barbuda. Some of these links may lead
to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to
verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing water On the other
hand, you might choose to write about the people acting in an official
capacity who perpetrate such cruelty.
There is a lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities. Scan other countries as well as this
one. Draw comparisons between activity
in adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Antigua & Barbuda U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/
antigua-and-barbuda /
[accessed 4 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison and
detention center conditions were harsh due to inadequate sanitary conditions
and overcrowding. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Some prisoners on remand remained in detention for up to four years before
their cases came to trial, according to the director of the Office of Public
Prosecutions in 2019. The government stated there was no case backlog, but
anecdotal media reports indicated the backlog remained a serious problem. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/antigua-and-barbuda/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Residents of
Antigua and Barbuda do not face any significant security threats.
Nevertheless, there is a small Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force. Prisons are
severely overcrowded, and conditions within them are poor. United Nations
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment High Commission for
Antigua and Barbuda, Initial, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh
periodic report of the States parties Antigua and Barbuda, 2001 www.antigua-barbuda.com/business_politics/united_nations/unreport_treatment.asp [accessed 14 Jan
2014] 11.
THE STATE OF TORTURE, INHUMAN AND DEGRADING PUNISHMENT IN ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
– As a
free and democratic society, Antigua and Barbuda takes allegations of torture
or other inhuman or degrading punishment very seriously. To date, there has
not been a single conviction or civil litigation decision to indicate the use
of torture or other inhuman or degrading punishment in Antigua and Barbuda.
Where allegations are made of instances of police use of excessive force or
police brutality, such claims have been thoroughly investigated. The findings
of these investigations are not secret, and whenever such investigations have
been held, the local independent press has been kept abreast of all such
investigations. While certain isolated incidents have occurred, they are
quite uncommon, and the severity of the allegations or injuries do not
suggest that there is any systemic or recurring instances of torture, inhuman
or degrading treatment at any level of government. The prison, built
in the 18th century, was damaged in the 1990s by a fire. Since then,
renovations and reparations have improved the conditions for inmates
considerably. The prison is open for visits and inspections by international
human rights observers, and a thorough inspection of the prison was
undertaken during the preparation of this report. Prisoners are treated
fairly and humanely, and while the budgetary constraints inherent in
developing nations such as Antigua and Barbuda preclude the type of amenities
typically found the prisons of the world's most affluent nations, the
conditions at the prison are closely monitored by the government of Antigua
and Barbuda to ensure that they adhere to both international human rights
standards, and the common sense of dignity and decency for one's fellow
citizen that Antiguans and Barbudans pride themselves on. In addition to
strict rules dictating how inmates may be treated while incarcerated and how
unruly prisoners may be punished there is also a comprehensive system in
place for ensuring that the prison staff is monitored for regulation
infractions, and that any such staff violations are dealt with quickly and
effectively. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=antigua+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/antigua-and-barbuda/ [accessed 17
February 2020] C. TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Prisoners in Her
Majesty’s Prison, the country’s only prison, faced severe conditions and
extreme overcrowding. Physical Conditions: Her Majesty’s
Prison, designed to hold a maximum of 150 inmates, held
334 male and 17 female prisoners as of September. Authorities separated
remanded prisoners from convicted prisoners when space was available.
Remanded inmates faced the harshest conditions, since their cells were the
most overcrowded. As of September the prison held three juvenile inmates in
maximum security. Extremely poor
ventilation caused cell temperatures to remain very high, and hygiene was
inadequate. The prison had inadequate toilet facilities, with slop pails used
in all cells except for those of the female prisoners. The men’s section had
no showers; inmates used buckets to wash themselves. The women’s section of
the prison had two showers; prison staff provided some feminine hygiene
products to women, although most female inmates’ families provided for this
need. Conditions in the kitchen were unsanitary, aggravated by the presence
of insects, rodents, and stray cats (to catch rodents). The yard area also
had stray cats and rodents. Human Rights
Reports » 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119144.htm [accessed 16 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119144.htm [accessed 2 July 2,
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The constitution
specifically prohibits such practices, and the authorities generally
respected these prohibitions in practice. Nonetheless, there were occasional
reports of police brutality, corruption, excessive force, discrimination
against homosexuals, and allegations of abuse by prison guards. In May authorities
placed a police officer on administrative leave for the beating of a
17-year-old. The deputy police commissioner promised an investigation, and
the case was pending at year's end. A court convicted
one of two police officers who shot the husband in a domestic disturbance in
2006; final sentencing was pending at year's end. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Antigua & Barbuda",
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