State ordered to pay over $1.8M

A de­ci­sion to trans­fer six men on re­mand to a di­lap­i­dat­ed and over­crowd­ed build­ing at the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison in Arou­ca is set to cost the State more than $1.8 mil­lion.

In a judg­ment de­liv­ered last week, High Court Judge Devin­dra Ram­per­sad up­held the men’s claims chal­leng­ing their trans­fer and the con­di­tions in which they were de­tained.

Jus­tice Ram­per­sad award­ed each man be­tween $248,000 and $374,500 in com­pen­sa­tion, based on the length of time he spent in the build­ing be­fore be­ing trans­ferred. One of the men, Ste­fon Austin, died in cus­tody while the case was pend­ing. His moth­er was sub­sti­tut­ed as a claimant and will re­ceive his com­pen­sa­tion.