The case of six mentally ill people deemed unfit to plead having to remain behind bars after years of incarceration reflects shamefully on our nation as a whole.

Essentially, the Supreme Court found that there was no other choice but to refuse release applications for the mentally ill individuals, because of a “dearth” of suitable facilities, be it private, public, or familial.

Our story, The Unwanted, written by Senior Staff Reporter Mrs Alicia Dunkley-Willis, told how Supreme Court judge, Justice Leighton Pusey was at pains to say that his ruling was not an indication “that the conditions in the correctional facilities are good or ideal for the applicants…

“Rather, the court considers the correctional facilities to be a ‘less bad’ solution than releasing them without supervision and resources. In view of this, the court has exercised its judicial discretion to refuse the orders sought for the release of the applicants in the circumstances. While this decision to deny release is regrettable, it underscores the urgent need for systemic reform and the provision of appropriate resources…”

We are told that the Legal Aid Council, which offered representation for the six mentally ill people, had filed applications “seeking a review of each applicant’s detention and their potential release, with or without conditions”.

The case reminded Justice Pusey — and we daresay many Jamaicans — of the scandalous matter of Mr Noel Chambers, an elderly mentally ill man who died at Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in 2020 after being ‘forgotten’, having spent more than 40 years behind bars.

Justice Pusey notes that, “Unfortunately, the attention drawn to the plight of [mentally ill] inmates has not yet worked in their favour.”

As has been said repeatedly, there is obvious and urgent need for the State to provide appropriate facilities to accommodate mentally ill people now in correctional facilities.

The situation is particularly annoying since, in 2020, as the society reeled from the embarrassing episode involving the late Mr Chambers, Prime Minister Andrew Holness promised corrective action.

The prime minister said back then that a comprehensive audit into the circumstances leading up to Mr Chambers’ passing had been commissioned and a key outcome “will be a detailed multi-agency examination of the loopholes that may exist across the system in order to ensure that we remedy any likelihood of this situation repeating itself”.

He said further: “This unfortunate situation must result in a complete and comprehensive overview and overhaul of the system to deal with custodies in general, and those with underlying mental and physiological conditions…”

Jamaicans are still waiting for those promises to come through.

It needs to be said that the failures outlined in the latest case involving mentally ill people in jail can’t be divorced from wider breakdowns, including ageing, embarrassingly outdated and ill-equipped prisons and courthouses, many of which need to be replaced with the greatest urgency.

To be fair to our political leaders, here and elsewhere, they typically respond to the demands, real and perceived, from the voting public.

We suspect that until Jamaicans in great numbers make it clear to those at the helm that the glaring, ugly weaknesses in the nation’s justice system must be corrected, not a lot will change.