The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said officials are still engaged in the litigation with Prescott Smith, who alleges that they unlawfully imprisoned him.

Commissioner Charles Murphy was sent on leave in September 2021 pending an investigation into matters at the prison, including the handling of Mr Smith, a prisoner who caught COVID-19 during lock-up.

In explaining Commissioner Murphy’s suspension, Mr Munroe said in a statement last year that there are three areas of concern regarding the facility. One of the matters was concerning Mr Smith, a man who was being kept at the prison in a possible breach of a Supreme Court order.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe said the case will move forward and the court will give a decision about whether Mr Murphy is liable.

“We’re still engaged in the litigation with Prescott Smith, who alleges that we unlawfully imprisoned him. That case will move forward, the court will give a decision about whether or not Mr Murphy is liable. I am liable because - as the minister responsible, I have general superintendence of the Bahamas Department of Corrections.

“This is the only institution that supposedly I have general superintendence. I don’t have command of the police force. I don’t have command of the defence force, but the (law) gives me responsibility for this facility and so we will see what happens with that litigation.

“All of the matters that we’ve met and we’ve moved to correct. So the doctor wasn’t permitted to put in place proper COVID protocols. Immediately, he’s been permitted to put in proper COVID protocols. He’s been elevated to the point that he gives medical advice and we mandate that it be followed - little simple things like that, that were not happening, have been corrected.”

It was recently reported the Ministry of Finance decided not to fund an independent inquiry into Mr Murphy’s actions while heading the correctional facility.

Romona Farquharson, Mr Murphy’s attorney, accused the government of defaming his reputation while having no intention of investigating allegations about his tenure.

However, the minister said an investigation and an independent investigation are two separate things. He said there has been an investigation.

“You have an independent investigation, for instance, when it was first determined to say that if you cause The Bahamas government to spend a million dollars to pay officers who you wrongly sent home - we should not be paying you a gratuity, we should not be paying you a pension. You have the ability to search as public servants, pension gratuity and pay. In the private sector, I certainly would have made the investment. This isn’t the private sector - this is the public sector,” he said.

“So there has been an investigation, we are being sued. That’s a question beyond doubt, we are being sued. I do believe Commissioner Murphy is named in that suit. So you don’t require an independent person to tell you that the officers who were sent home without process - that’s a fact we know about it. The doctor in his documentation of what he wanted to do and wasn’t permitted to do and there was no budget initially for simple cleaning material to clean the prison on a continuous basis. You have an investigation and you find that out.

“The purpose of an independent investigation has to do with disciplinary and surcharging basis. It was determined he is on pre-retirement leave so there was no appetite for it. We don’t have the luxury of doing anything other than complying had we not corrected these things and I, as minister, would be responsible. I don’t think I want to be responsible for proper medical protocols not being put in place. So I wouldn’t tolerate that I’m not going to put my liberty at stake for somebody else doing nonsense. And since that Act makes me responsible I do what I have to do to safeguard my duty, my obligation, and in fact my freedom.”

It was announced that Mr Murphy would be placed on leave and be replaced by Acting Commissioner Doan Cleare. Last year, Mr Cleare had been ordered to return to the prison along with Bernadette Murray, another deputy commissioner who had been sidelined by the previous administration.

Asked how soon before a substantive commissioner is named, Mr Munroe replied: “That is a matter when there is an acting commissioner because we always had two deputy commissioners. That’s the amazing thing about it. We had two deputy commissioners to properly discipline somebody. There would have had to have been a deputy commissioner in the correctional institution. They decided to keep them out of the correctional institution.”