BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Nov. 29, 2018– Many individuals who go to prison sometimes endure all kinds of violations and remain silent, then slip back quietly into society after they have repaid society for their crime; but Orel Leslie is different. Leslie has become the first person to take out a constitutional claim against the Kolbe Foundation-managed Belize Central Prison.
Leslie’s constitutional claim opened this week in the Supreme Court of Justice Courtenay Abel and he was the first person to take the witness stand. In his claim, Leslie is relying on seven affidavits in which he carefully catalogued what he endured behind the prison walls.
On March 27, 2017, Leslie and two co-defendants, Tyrone Meighan and Brandon Baptist, were, after being acquitted of a charge of murder, re-arrested and taken back to the Belize Central Prison. A panel of Court of Appeal judges had ruled in favor of an appeal against their acquittal by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and had ordered that they should be retried for the November 2012 murder of former Belize Defence Force soldier, James Norales. The three accused had previously been acquitted of Norales’ murder in the Supreme Court of the then Justice, John Troadio Gonzalez, in trial by judge sitting without jury in October 2015. In the second trial before Supreme Court Justice Colin Williams, the three were again acquitted of Norales’ murder.
Leslie’s claim is against the board of directors and management of the Kolbe Foundation of Belize, which is listed as the first defendant; the Minister of Home Affairs, which is listed as the second defendant, and the Attorney General, who is listed as the third defendant.
On September 1, 2017, the prison’s Quick Response Team (QRT) searched Leslie’s cell and purportedly found a black plastic bag that was found in a pipe in the ceiling of the cell. The bag allegedly contained two grams of cannabis.
Leslie said in his first affidavit that prison officers saw the black plastic bag on two separate occasions and had taken pictures of it. “…but they never confirmed what was there nor showed nor gave me copies of the picture nor removed or make an issue of the black plastic bag.”
Leslie said that the officers never accused him of placing the black plastic bag in the ceiling, nor did they attempt to remove it. When the bag was removed during the September 1 search, however, Leslie was charged with an infraction of the prison rules and he was placed on “Administrative Segregation.”
Known by its acronym, “Ad-Seg”, Leslie explained that it “is a lockdown location and a form of placing a prisoner in isolation in some of the most inhumane conditions.”
Two weeks later, Leslie went before a prison tribunal, but prior to his appearance before the tribunal he was not given any disclosure about the suspected cannabis, he said.
“…I learnt that while I was placed at Ad-Seg, in my absence, at some unknown date and time, the prison authorities conducted another search at my former cell at Tango-10,” Leslie said.
“I was told that when they reportedly did this other search, they purportedly found two cell phones and a USB cord, for which I was also charged with no proof presented to me of these items purportedly found in my absence,” said Leslie in his affidavit.
Leslie’s affidavit continued, “The Tribunal panel comprised Mr. Gladden, Mr. Choco and the counselor Mr. Usher, who sanctioned me to six months at Ad-Seg with all amenities removed, thus I am not allowed any visitors, receipt of basic items such as food or money from my relatives, am not allowed to make nor receive phone calls nor letters and I cannot have any communication with the rest of the population and I am totally denied the opportunity to even come out and exercise.”
About two weeks after the hearing, Leslie said the CEO of the prison, Virgilio Murillo, sent for him from his cell and unilaterally added another two months to his six-month sentence in Ad-Seg.
“He [Murillo] then threatened me that I am ‘marked’ and that he has taken the liberty to forward my file to the US Embassy, to the Gang Suppression Unit, and to Special Branch so that if I ever get out they would deal with me and I would not be able to ever travel to the US as I used to. Then CEO Murillo told me that if any of his officers from Punta Gorda to Corozal get a simple punch in the face or even a gunshot he will hold me personally responsible and he will do all in his power to have me pay, as I would be responsible.
“CEO Murillo then took out a chart which had only faces of men; it was like a photo line-up with the pictures being organized in rows and I would say it was about 40 faces on the chart, but at the bottom one of the boxes was empty and he told me it’s my face that could go there.
“He told me those were all faces of former George Street gangsters that have died and I could be the next face to be placed there to complete the chart,” Leslie said in his affidavit.
Leslie was being housed in Cell #7 in the tower. He said it is really inhumane, as there is no ventilation in the cell.
Leslie said he only had a bucket in which to dispose of his waste. “I have no access to sunlight and have visibly gotten paler and my skin has become ash and because of the non-existent ventilation I always have that stench of the cell on me and my clothes as if I am living in my own feces,” he wrote.
“There is absolutely no access to electricity so I have no light and I am not able to read and thus remain in darkness except for the glare of the outside that comes in during the day on clear days,” Leslie explained. “On rainy and cloudy days it’s like I am living in twenty-four (24) hours darkness and it is extremely depressing and isolated and affecting my mental orientation and stability,” he said.
Leslie said that the prison is mandated to provide basic sleeping amenities, but he did not receive any.
“I am not allowed to have family bring me not even a blanket, no bedding or even cardboard to keep me off the cold cement slab as this inhumanity is part of my punishment,” Leslie said.
Leslie explained that he could hardly sleep. “It is next to impossible to get a good night’s sleep and this is made worse by the fact that all sorts of crawling animals occupy the cell along with me from time to time, so I must always be on the lookout. Since being at #7 Cell in Ad-Seg from September 1st, 2017, I have already killed 4 scorpions, 5 tarantula spiders, 11 millipedes, and in excess of 25 roaches,” he detailed.
When he shared a cell with a convicted murderer, he said he did not sleep well, because he was always on the lookout.
For all the time he was in the prison, Leslie was on remand and the prison appeared to have further violated his rights when he was housed with a convicted person.
Leslie said that in November 2017, the prison violated him by forcibly giving him a TB vaccination against his will. He was threatened that if he did not undergo the vaccination, he would be given additional time in Ad-Seg.
“My time there has been utterly unbearable. I am writing in order to seek justice and attain help because I have been given a sanction time of 8 months at Ad-Seg, which I feel is completely excessive and overly harsh in its length and especially considering the conditions I must endure, those being degrading and inhumane conditions, worse than if I had already been convicted for the offence for which I was remanded…” Leslie said.
“I am utterly concerned that because I am hidden away from all my relatives and friends that I am prone to another level of abuse and excessive exertion of power, especially since the day after my attorney last came to see me, on Thursday October 12, 2017, I was shackled and brought before the head of security, Mr. Vernon Bennett, who told me that the prison authorities note I got an attorney and that by doing so it will only make my time harder for me because she cannot help me,” Leslie said in his affidavit.
Leslie also detailed how on subsequent visits his conversation with his attorney had been recorded by prison officials.
At the hearing, Leslie is being represented by attorney Audrey Matura, while the prison management is being represented by Philip Zuniga, S.C., along with Crown Counsel from the Solicitor General’s office, Agassi Finnegan.