ATTORNEY GENERAL John Jeremie, SC, has revealed he has visited the inmates who have been moved from the Arouca-based Maximum Security Prison to the Teteron and Staubles Bay defence force bases under detention, as he wrapped up debate on a motion to designate these Chaguaramas venues as prisons on July 29.

By a majority vote, the Senate passed a motion to approve the Prisons (No 2) Order, 2025. Some eight independent senators voted with the government to pass the bill with 23 votes "for", with one independent senator (Dr Desiree Murray) opting to abstain along with the six opposition senators, with no one voting "against". The House of Representative passed the motion on July 29.

While Jeremie related the danger the country was in before the declaration of the state of emergency (SoE), under which the detainees had been transferred, he also said his personal attention to the detainees' welfare was largely informed by knowledge of bad treatment meted out to some detained members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen during the 1990 attempted coup.