The Department of Correctional Services in Jamaica...

The Department of Correctional Services in Jamaica said it would be seeking legal advice on the status of several death row inmates who had been staging various protests for the past week. The department said that 13 inmates at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre were refusing to leave their cells or accept meals.
It said their action was to demand that the authorities review their death sentences in the wake of June's Privy Council ruling that Jamaica's mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional.
The Privy Council ruled that the 1992 Offences Against the Person Act, which introduced the mandatory death sentence for capital murder, was inconsistent with section 17(1) of the Jamaica constitution.
According to the law lords, any death sentence passed since the act was introduced in 1992 must be held to be illegal.
The judgment meant that all those sentenced to death since 1992 would have their case returned to the Supreme Court for sentencing.
Head of the Department of Correctional Services, Maj. Richard Reece, said he was awaiting advice on whether sentencing reviews would be carried out for the inmates involved.