Prime Minister Philip J Pierre has disclosed that the sum of more than $4.5 million has been allocated for the re-construction of the Custody Suites.
Custody Suites was demolished by the former administration in 2020, a move Pierre has since described as a ‘reckless and callous’ act.
According to the prime minister a tender bidding process was utilised to select a contractor for the project, from the four contractors who made a bid. The process is conducted by the Ministry of Physical Development.
“The Custody Suites is a project that showed the recklessness of the last government …and they destroyed a facility that housed persons arrested by the police,” declared PM Pierre, at a media briefing on Monday.
Following the demolition of the structure, he said, there was no place for law enforcement officers to detain suspects allegedly involved in ( petty ) criminal activity. As a result, the police had to resort to alternative locations to house suspects, in holding cells in various police stations across the island.
According to the prime minister, this was “not sustainable” and in some cases the officers “drove arrested persons around town for a ‘lime’ and released them at the Morne (Mt. Fortune) and told them to (make) their way back to Castries.
PM Pierre said the custody suites project was open to contractors who would be able to take up the work of reconstruction.
He said that four companies applied and completed the forms, after a site visit prior to the submission of the tender documents.
The four companies were, Caribbean Contractors Co. Ltd, Rayneau’s Construction Co. Ltd, IDC Caribbean Holdings Ltd, and Prudue’s Construction Services Ltd.
The prime minister further informed that after these bids were assessed, IDC Caribbean Holdings was awarded the contract for an amount of $4, 579, 089. 97.
Pierre also added that there was a legal review undertaken by the Attorney General chambers, which found the document to be compliant.
He stated that site location on upper Bridge Street, which housed the old Traffic Department was chosen, since “there was no other site …and the judiciary had warned the former government that police and prison buildings should not be near judicial buildings”.
“There is something called ‘The Doctrine of the Separation of Powers’ and with the two buildings near each other, it gave the perception that there was no separation,” noted the National Security Minister.
He stressed that the judiciary always complained that the two buildings should not be constructed in close proximity to each other.
PM Pierre recalled that, in 2017, the last government under Dr. Kenny Anthony “proposed and got funding for a Police Headquarters at La Toc …(however), between 2020 and 2021 the (former) government abandoned that process.” The government, at the time, then decided that they would build a Judicial Complex and Police Headquarters on the site that had been demolished.
“There is no document which says that funding was ever procured for that …(but) there are some bills, at least one for $1million to be paid to an architect,” he said. “And I have not seen the plans.”
Pierre said there was no funding in place for any complex, but instead “there was the objection by the judicial people to allow the two complexes to be next to each other.”
In contrast, said Pierre, the current administration decided that the Halls of Justice would be built “in the existing space where the court house is (located).” He added that the old Ministry of Education is to be demolished and “we are going to build a complex there with an over-pass, so the two buildings are going to be joined together.”
He added that the Police Welfare Association (PWA) objected to the Police Headquarters being constructed at La Toc, and so, “we yielded to their request …and we are going to be starting plans for the building of a Police Headquarters in the old site that was demolished.”
Ultimately, he said, Custody Suites would be in close proximity to Police Headquarters “so they can oversee that situation”.
PM Pierre added: “The Custody Suites will become a permanent structure …to complement the other. So, that’s going to be a Law Enforcement area and the Judicial Complex would be by the Catholic Church.”