Bmda: Caribpundit gets results! Well, partly

Vanity dictates that I take some slight redit for this, so I will.

Government is to launch a public inquiry into the death of prison inmate Steven (Pepe) Dill.

Mr. Dill died at the Farm Facility in St. George's on December 19, 2001 after pleading for medical assistance for seven hours after suffering an asthma attack.

An inquest into the death in October last year ruled that Mr. Dill, 41, died as a result of "the absence of timely medical intervention from the complication of bronchial asthma, which was possibly exacerbated by poly-drug abuse".

But last month Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser ruled that no criminal charges would be brought in the case, adding that, "a prosecution would not be in the public interest".
Yesterday Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton said: "During the past week, I have discussed the issue of an inquiry with His Excellency the Governor, the Commissioner of Prisons, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the remainder of my Cabinet colleagues.

"I wish to announce a public inquiry will be held to determine any weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates, and to determine which changes should be made in keeping with modern day medical care for persons who are incarcerated."
Details of the composition of the board and its terms of reference will be announced during the coming weeks.

Go here to see what I said about the Dill case on February 21, 2004.

As I said at the time and still say today, in Bermuda, "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." Minister of Home Affairs Randy Horton concurs with DPP Ratneser because, instead of addressing the core of the problem itself, prison conditions and the brutality of the guards, he addresses the ancillary issue which is that of medical care for prisoners.

Steven Dill died because the guards on duty that day failed to do their jobs; when the prisoner called for medical assistance, the guards refused to answer. Consequently, Steven Dill died before he could receive any medical care. Whether the prison's medical facilities were up to the task of saving Dill's life, we will never know because the man was allowed to choke to death in his cell. During the long time it took him to die, before he gasped for his last breath, the amount of terror Steven Dill experienced makes the guards crime more heinous. There can be no worse sensation than knowing your bronchioles are closing themselves off and you can't do anything about it. There's nothing worse than lying there panting and fighting for every last bit of air, and receiving none. It was absolute horror of staring down this preventable death to which the guards subjected Steven Dill.

Even if the Bermudan government makes changes to correct "any weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates," Steven Dill would have still died because, in this instance, the problem was not with the medical care but with getting Dill to it.

Meantime, the government boys, in their suits, white shirt, and ties, speak smugly of "weaknesses in the Island's correctional system relating to the medical care of inmates," thinking that what happened to Steven Dill will never happen to them. Like Stalin sang several years ago, "the table turning round, round and round, all them oppressor now the oppressed one."

Now, let's hope that Bermuda gets justice for Steven Dill.