Bmda: Nobody's guarding the guards

Even prisoners have the right to prompt medical treatment; yet, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Bermuda says the behind bars death of Steven 'Pepe' Dill doesn't merit prosecution.

No one will be prosecuted in connection with the death of Steven (Pepe) Dill, because it is not in the public interest, according to the acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser.

Mr. Dill, 41, died at the Prison Farm in December 2001 after suffering an asthma attack. Last year, an inquest into his death heard how Mr. Dill had asked guards for medical help for more than seven hours before they acted. By the time a duty nurse arrived at the prison, Mr. Dill was unconscious and showed no signs of life. He was officially pronounced dead an hour later. The inquest concluded that Mr. Dill died as a result of "the absence of timely medical intervention from the complication of bronchial asthma".

Does Bermuda's DPP Ratneser want the world community to understand that because a man is behind bars his highly preventable death should not be charged to his guards? Steven Dill was a prisoner, true, but he had not forfeited his humanity. As a ward of the state because of his crimes, the state had an obligation to provide medical services for Dill because he requested it; because he was not in a position to obtain it for himself; and, because it was the human thing to do.

Would Dill have died had he been seen to in a timely manner? The answer is he most likely would not, and I say this as one coming from a family with many asthmatics. Therefore, Dill's death was preventable. However, DPP Ratneser has signaled that in Bermuda if you're behind bars the state has no compelling interest in seeing after your well-being. Thus, prison authorities have been reliably informed that they can do as they please with prisoners because the state says "it is not in the public interest" to prosecute for the death of a prisoner.

This statement followed up by Ratneser's actual failure to prosecute has set the Bermuda prison system on a slippery slope. Will DPP Ratneser wait for a prisoner to die from guard-applied body music in order to hold prison authorities accountable for a death on their watch?