Regularly on this newscast, we take you to the Supreme Court and the Magistrate's Court for coverage of high-profile criminal cases.
But after those high profile arraignments, the accused go through a series of routine adjournments until either the police, or the prosecution is ready proceed to trial. For persons on remand at the Belize Central Prison, these adjournments play out over the course of several weeks, months, and even years, where they are taken from the prison to the court for a few hours before they are inevitably told by the Magistrate or the Supreme Court judge that another adjournment is being granted because the state isn't ready to proceed to trial against them just yet.
It's a burden on the police, the prison, and ultimately the government to constantly provide the transportation and the security to ferry those defendants from the prison to the court and back.
Well, with the help of the US Government, the Judiciary and the Prison have come up with a more efficient solution to handle the situation. The prisoners will soon start to attend court remotely from the Prison, through teleconference hearings. The authorities say that this project, called the Courtroom to Prison Video Live Link has taken several years of planning, but it is finally ready to be unveiled to the public.
Judges, Magistrates and diplomats from the US Embassy attended a ceremony at the prison today, where the US Embassy officially handed over the building and the video link equipment to the Government of Belize. The press was invited, and Daniel Ortiz examined the importance of this big change in the way adjournments are conducted:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
The Magistrate's Court, the Supreme Court, and the Belize Central Prison are on the cusp of a major change in the way they do business.
They are attempting to cut down on one major inefficiency in the court's process. Viewers may or may not know that both the prison or the police officers from the Prosecution Branch are responsible for transporting defendants from the prison to the court whenever their case is called up.
The authorities make it a policy for accused persons have to be present for every hearing that involves criminal charges they are facing. And to ensure their active participation, the state bends over backwards by transporting them to the court, using up valuable resources, just so that majority of the remandees can arrive only to learn their case is being adjourned to a new date, due to some procedure that needs to be completed first. Ferrying the remand population back and forth also comes with its own attendant risks and expenses.
Virgilio Murrillo - CEO, Belize Central Prison
"Everyday, these prisoners are taken out of the prisoners are taken out of the prison to go to the various court rooms. There is risk of accidents happening on the highways. There is the risk of escapes. There is that possibility of prisoners overpowering the escorting officers, whether they are prison guards or police officers."
Hon. Kenneth Benjamin - Chief Justice
"It has become a not infrequent occurrence in courts in Belize City, and indeed throughout Belize, that they are stymied by the late attendance of persons on remand, or by the failure altogether of the remandees to attend. This of course affects the efficiency of the courts at both trial levels, both the Supreme Court and Magistrate's Court."
That's where this brand new facility comes in. It's was recently constructed right on the prison's compound. The building houses a live video link between the prison and 3 court rooms in Belize City
In a sort of teleconference set-up, so that remandees will be able to attend court remotely, without having to leave the confines of the prison. In this new facility, there are pseudo courtrooms where the remanded person can sit in and interact with the court to give his or her input. There are private rooms for these remandees sit and discuss their case with their attorneys, without the fear of being over heard, thus protecting attorney-client privilege. The facility also has its own holding cells and bathroom facilities for the remandees.
Keith Gilges - Charge d' Affaires, US Embassy
"The project has 2 components, the building right next me here, which offers attorney/client meting rooms, and space for the video link system on this end, and the actual video link system, which will allow for direct communication between the prison and 4 court rooms in Belize City. While the total cost of the project is just over $387,000 US, I believe the the pay-offs justify every dollar, and then some."
Virgilio Murrillo - CEO, Belize Central Prison
"It will certainly be more efficient by curtailing expenses in the areas of fuel, vehicle maintenance and repairs on prison and police officers escort. And one of the things that I love about it is that it will certainly reduce contraband, particularly drugs from entering the prison. We know well that drugs is the root cause to all of the violence in prisons, as a whole. And we have proven over the years that it is always the remanded prisoners who brings drugs into this prison, when they go to court."
Hon. Kenneth Benjamin - Chief Justice
"The video link will obviate or minimize the routine transporting of remandees to and from the Central Prison."
So how the video link work on a technical level? Well, the Chief Justice tried to explain it to the gathering, which led to moment of amusement, given that this is not his area of expertise.
Hon. Kenneth Benjamin - Chief Justice
"The technical personnel - and I'm going into uncharted territory for myself, quite ingeniously, I must say - surmounted the challenge of the expense of broadband internet service, by recommending that the link be by microwave signal, whatever that means, involving the radio tower at the Queen Street Police Station in Belize City, and the tower here at the Central Prison."
For now, the video live link will not be used to conduct trials or arraignments. Those defendants will still have be taken to the court.
Hon. Kenneth Benjamin - Chief Justice
"The appearances will be limited to hearings, except for arraignments and trials. Those will have to be done in person. Video conferencing equipment has been installed in courts 5 and 6 in the Supreme Court, and court 2 in the Magistrate's Court."
He hope is that this video live link will operational in a few weeks time.
The Chief Justice has told us that in order for the project to be put into full effect, there are certain rules related to the operation of the video link which need to be made into law. He said that the drafts of these rules are almost completed, and they will be sent to the desk of the Attorney General for final approval. There are also plans for persons remanded to prison to able to make bail applications on their own behalf. The idea is that poorer defendants, who cannot afford a lawyer to make a Supreme Court bail petition, and so, this video live link, will give them an opportunity to at least be heard by the court.
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