Senate approves loophole closure
A “gap in the system” pointed out by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner has been amended by the Senate.Attorney General Kim Wilson joked that her presentation of the Bail Amendment Act, 2012 “may perhaps be the shortest brief in history”, adding: “This is a very important Bill, albeit very tiny.”She said there had been an ambiguity in the matter of persons granted bail by the courts who were unable to receive a surety, as to whether they were in the custody of police or the Department of Corrections.Such persons are to be remanded into the custody of the Commissioner of Prisons, and held in the cells below the courts at the Dame Lois Browne Evans Building.The Commissioner of Prisons is also legally responsible for those who manage to get bailed with surety.