Fox Hill Prison
A prison in the Bahamas From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fox Hill Prison is the only prison in the Bahamas.[1] Located in Nassau, the capital, it is operated by the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.[2][3] Fox Hill Prison has minimum, medium, and maximum security facilities for male prisoners.[4] It also has one block for female prisoners, as well as a medical block.[2][5]
 | |
| Location | Fox Hill |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 25°01′40″N 77°17′31″W |
| Opened | March 1952 |
| Former name | Her Majesty's Prisons |
| Managed by | Bahamas Department of Correctional Services |
| City | Nassau |
| Country | The Bahamas |
History
The prison was established at its current location in Fox Hill, Bahamas, in March 1952. It was originally named Her Majesty's Prisons, a name shared with other prisons in the former British Empire. On August 11, 2014, its name was changed to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.[4]
Fox Hill Prison was not the first prison in the Bahamas. The earliest record of a prison in what is now the Bahamas was in the 1600s. Former prisons in Nassau now house the Nassau Public Library and the Royal Bahamas Police Force headquarters.[4]
The Bahamas also maintains the Carmichael Road Detention Centre for migrants in Nassau, New Providence.[6][7] The center opened in 1993 as the first immigration detention facility in the Caribbean.[8] Before that time, immigrant detainees in the Bahamas were held at Fox Hill.[9][10][11] Most detainees at the Carmichael Road facility are from Haiti and Cuba.[6][7] Like the Fox Hill prison, the Carmichael Road facility has been criticized for poor conditions.[6][7] The Bahamian immigration minister said in 2022 that the government was upgrading the Carmichael Road facility and also planned to build a migrant detention center in Inagua.[12]
Conditions and reputation
Summarize
Perspective
The prison has been criticised internationally for poor conditions.[13] A 2003 report by Amnesty International found that the prison had a high risk of transmission of diseases such as tuberculosis.[5] According to the United States Department of State's 2020 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for the Bahamas, the prison is overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacks adequate food and medical care.[2][14] The report stated that the prison was infested with maggots, rats, and insects; that cells had buckets instead of toilets; and that prisoners reported bed sores caused by sleeping on the ground.[2][1] It also stated that prisoners shared 6 by 10 foot (2 by 3 meter) cells with no mattresses, no toilets, and as many as six prisoners to a cell.[5] In 2017, Commissioner Patrick Wright confirmed that prisoners in the maximum-security block still had to use buckets instead of toilets.[15] Bahamian attorney Romona Farquharson has stated that sometimes prisoners get as little as 30 minutes of outdoor time per week.[1]
Commissioner of Correctional Services Doan Cleare said in 2022 that conditions in the prison had improved, with renovations and an end to the "issues with rodents".[16] A video from The Nassau Guardian the same year showed a mixture of age and quality of facilities, with some facilities renovated, but some prisoners still in crowded cells.[16]
Notable inmates
Notable inmates detained at the prison include:
- Sam Bankman-Fried, businessman who founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research; held at the prison in 2022 before he was extradited to the U.S. to face fraud charges.[1][5]
- Viktor Kožený, held at Fox Hill while fighting extradition to the United States; Kožený's counsel said the prison had a reputation for "breaking even the toughest of men" through harsh conditions.[2]
- Michaiah Shobek, serial killer executed in 1976.[17]
- David Mitchell, executed in 2000 for the murder of two Germans in the Bahamas.[18]
References
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