ON
THE RELEASE OF MATTHEW MITCHELL
19
September 2001
I wish to say this morning how relieved we all our in the Mitchell family that the particular nightmare of Mathew and this family is over. He met the challenge and this result is a credit to his persistence, his confidence and an abiding faith in God and the rule of law. On behalf of us all, I thank all the people of goodwill who prayed, who called, sent messages of concern and visited Matthew during his incarceration.
As a
public figure and the oldest of my immediate family, and in the absence of my
deceased parents it falls to me to say to him welcome back into the land of the
free. We are happy for his children
especially. They had a close
relationship with their father.
For
the moment, Matthew proposes to say nothing.
He wishes to allow things to settle down before turning his attention to
what to do next. The experience in Fox
Hill prison was not a good one. But we
want to make a distinction between the institution itself and the many many
people of good will who serve there.
In
particular, I would like to thank the Acting Superintendent Edward Culmer and
Acting Deputy Superintendent Charles Rolle who were always helpful and
courteous through Matthew’s incarceration to me and my family. Every time his children needed to see him
they were accommodated. Further, my
father was able to see Matthew, his last wish before he died. My only regret is that he is not here to see
this day. But I know the last of his
sisters Mrs. Ruth Granger is enormously relieved. She was shell shocked by the conviction.
But
beyond our personal pain and experience, we want to say that Bahamians ought to
see how important it is for the rules of law to be properly applied. I hope that we all see that Judges and
juries have a responsibility to apply the law properly and fairly.
Our
concern is for those who might be in Fox Hill prison today who were unjustly or
wrongly convicted but do not have the resources or the notoriety to do what
Matthew has done. They languish in a
prison that surely crosses the threshold of cruel and inhumane punishment.
What
I wish to say to all those who are in prison that notwithstanding the fact that
Mathew is out of prison, he and this family and in particular this Senator in
his public capacity will continue to champion the cause of human rights, legal
reform and prison reform. It is still
the intention of this Senator at an appropriate time to cause an action to be
brought to condemn the conditions within the prison.
Finally,
I wish to say that we ought a great debt of gratitude to the attorneys in this
matter both the Attorney at first instance Philip Brave Davis and Jewel
Major. And latterly the forensic
persistence and confident, charitable and diligent enthusiasm of Murio Ducille
that resulted in the quashing of the conviction and the setting aside of the
sentence.
Once
again, it is an enormous relief and I wish my brother well as he continues to
redevelop his career his personality and regain his reputation.