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Incident at Her Majesty’s Prison Turks and Caicos on January 24, 2019

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#Grand Turk, January 28, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – At approximately 0910 hours on the 24th of January, a single prisoner was legitimately restrained after offering a serious threat of violence to the prison officers and the prison estate.  He had armed himself with a number of stones, and was throwing them without care of other people or the immediate circumstances.

As a consequence, and the impressive bravery of the prison officers, he was restrained to prevent injury to himself, to the prison staff, other prisoners and the surrounding buildings.  This violent act, by a prisoner, occurred immediately in front of a residential wing, and within the vicinity of a number of other prisoners who were involved in outdoor activities in the exercise yard.

Regrettably, a number of prisoners in the exercise yard took exception to the bravery of the prison officers and wanted to shout their protests at this action, that was being managed by the Prison Superintendent.  Equally, other prisoners on blue wing took exception to this swift and effective intervention by the prison staff, and they proceeded to damage their own TV used for social purposes, a water cooler to provide them with refreshment and a micro wave cooker.  The protest was noisy, but managed and with no occurrence of violence towards the prison staff beyond the damaged items.

The issue that underpinned the initial incident was a prisoner that had a legitimate belief that he should be in court for a judicial hearing.  He reacted badly to being told he would not attend court, and used a violent protest as a way of trying to get his problems fixed.

The prison returned to normal very soon after the incident had started, and could never be described as a riot, nor did it last 3 hours.  Sadly, in the world of social media, there will always be the potential for the spread false information.

The Prison Superintendent Mr. Grahame Hawkins said; “I know people may believe what they read on social media, and of course, it is always difficult to get information about incidents that occur in a prison.  I can assure the community and the families of those in custody, that the event was handled professionally.  My aim is to always get the prison back to normal as quickly as possible, and we achieved this within about 45 minutes and once it was safe to do so.”

Hon. Vaden Delroy Williams, Minister for Home Affairs Transportation and Communication in his comments on the matter noted; “Prison staff are exceptionally brave people who we ask to walk into danger whenever it presents itself, and I pay tribute to the brave staff who helped manage one person, and then started working on the de-escalation of what was obviously a brief but challenging incident.”

 

Release: TCIG

 

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RTCIPF Observes World Down Syndrome Day

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On March 21st, 2024, the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force joined the international, regional and local communities in observing World Down Syndrome Day. 

Officers showed their support by wearing brightly coloured and mismatched socks to raise awareness. 

The head of the Safeguarding and Public Protection Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Grantley Williams, Training Manager Mrs Odessa Forbes and Media Relations Officer Denyse Renne visited the SNAP Centre and interacted with the students.

In a message to the TCI community, the RTCIPF noted that stereotypes perpetuate stigma and hinder inclusion, preventing individuals from reaching their full potential. 

Instead, the RTCIPF calls for individuals to foster an environment of acceptance and support where everyone is valued for who they are. 

By breaking down barriers and challenging misconceptions, we can create a more inclusive society where individuals with Down Syndrome are empowered to live fulfilling lives and contribute meaningfully to their communities and, by extension, the TCI. 

As law enforcement officers, we must protect and serve all members of society, regardless of their abilities. 

Let’s work together to ensure that individuals with Down Syndrome are treated with dignity and respect and that their rights are upheld.

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CARICOM speaks out on Climate Change, looking to May meeting to amplify call for Climate Funding

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March 3, 2024

 

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains on the frontlines of global climate crisis, an issue the Region has been aggressively advocating on for the past thirty years. Despite the many commitments and promises of international partners, the window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is rapidly closing.

Heads of Government are concerned that while COP 28 was widely regarded as a historic event, with the completion of the first global stocktake (GST), on progress in achievement of the Paris Agreement goals, the outcomes of GST show that emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise and the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of Parties will not keep global temperatures below the 1.5 degree goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Heads of Government also expressed concern to be heading to COP 29 where a New Finance Goal will be articulated to replace the 100bn goal, which has not yet been met, even as developing countries require trillions to deal with the escalating impacts of climate change. Developed country parties have not provided enough finance at scale, technology and capacity building support required to help developing countries tackle their pressing needs to build their resilience, especially in adapting to the adverse and increasingly catastrophic impacts of climate change. The clear absence of definitive timelines for action and quantitative commitments for scaling up of investments, and particularly adaptation finance emerging out of COP 28, cause great concern to our Region.

The Conference noted that Small Island Developing States (SIDS), recognized as the most vulnerable group of countries and a special case for sustainable development, have been facing strong push back against the recognition of their special circumstances especially in the context of climate finance. There is limited international support for special allocations for SIDS within financing arrangements and available climate finance from international and private sources is limited, expensive and too onerous to access.

In light of the preceding, Heads of Government called for CARICOM to take a strategic, unified and coordinated approach to ensure that the Region remains influential in the climate and development arena through engagements with key partners and advocacy groups.

They called for renewed focus by the Region to advocate for inclusion of forests, nature-based solutions and blue carbon into market mechanisms with the aim of articulating clear regional positions and strategies.

Heads of Government reiterated the call for improved readiness programmes, simplified approval procedures, a change to the criteria for determining access to low-cost finance, and for the adoption of programmatic approaches to address the bottlenecks in accessing finance.

The Region reiterates its support for the Bridgetown Initiative’s call to expand capital adequacy of international financial institutions.

Heads recognized that the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, scheduled to be held in Antigua and Barbuda, 27 – 30 May 2024, will be an inflection point for many of these discussions to be articulated. As such, the Region remains committed to participating in the Conference at the highest level.

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South Caicos Development Plans shared with Washington-Misick led Administration

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On Monday, 12 February 2024, the Premier led a delegation to tour the island of South Caicos to view the ongoing public and private sector projects, involving the remodelling and rebranding of the airport terminals, historical districts, and the East Bay Hotel.

The tour of the various developments reinforced the Government’s commitment to collaborating with stakeholders to boost the island’s activity and economy.

Photos courtesy of the TCI Office of the Premier

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