The requisite security and health measures will be in place at the Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre, where criminally insane inmate Webster Woodley will be housed after he is released from prison later this month.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police responsible for crime-fighting, Trevor “Buju” Bailey said that Woodley would be housed at the psychiatric hospital so that he could receive the medical attention he needs and to keep him away from the rest of society, pending improvement in his psychiatric health.
“… he [has] been assessed by a psychiatrist outside of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and … Woodley is not in a position where he can freely walk through Kingstown and all of the other citizens are relatively safe being around him,” Bailey said on Hot97 FM.
“So the concern is not just for the staff at mental health but for the general public as well because the state has a responsibility to provide a safe environment for all of its citizens and visitors alike.”
Woodley is nearing the completion of a 25-year prison term for murder. At the same time, Director of Public Prosecution Sejilla McDowall has withdrawn two 20-year-old murder charges against him.
The government is constructing a special facility at the psychiatric hospital to house Woodley after his release from prison.
However, the move has unnerved staff at the psychiatric hospital, with a healthcare worker writing to iWItness News anonymously on Monday, expressing concern about the development.
Bailey noted the iWitness News report on the issue, adding that people were “rightfully” concerned.
Bailey, who has over two decades of experience as a homicide investigator, noted that the murder charges against Woodley date back to an uptick of killings in the Arnos Vale-Redemption Sharpes areas in 2003.
He pointed out that Woodley was convicted of one of those killings and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Grenadian Sheldon Bain aka Dutch was also implicated in those killings but was repatriated and sentenced to 80 years in prison in his home country for a double murder there.
Bain was only on remand in connection with two other murder charges, including one for which he was convicted twice, but both convictions were overturned.
Bailey noted that while serving his sentence for murder, Woodley was also on remand in connection with those murder charges.
He said that Woodley developed mental health issues while in prison and was evaluated by a psychiatrist from outside of the jurisdiction, who concluded that Woodley was not fit to stand trial on the two outstanding murder charges.
The DPP then decided to discontinue those charges.
“So it’s not a case where she just dropped the matters arbitrarily like that. If he was fit, he would have had to stand trial for the other matters,” Bailey explained.
He, however, pointed out that Woodley cannot remain in prison after completing his murder sentence.
“But because of the assessment that has been received by the authorities, the state is performing its civic duties in ensuring the security of its nationals,” Bailey said.
“I don’t think that Mr. Woodley is in the best of health to be released to walk the streets of Kingstown. So, the state has built a facility on the mental health compound specifically for him alone.”
Bailey said he had heard the concerns about Woodley scaling the wall of the psychiatric hospital and leaving.
“… those are fears that can be easily laid to rest because the facility where he will be housed, it is like a maximum security inside the prison,” Bailey said.
“In other words, the building that is being built for him is not just built there, but it will be properly secured with an outer perimeter fence where he can have recreation, he can come out of his dwelling and have recreation in the yard and so forth, and the security on the compound itself will be boosted,” Bailey said.
He said he did not want to go into all of the details but told listeners that he was part of a meeting with the staff at the psychiatric hospital where the issues were ventilated.
“They advanced their concern. The concerns were addressed from a Ministry of Health point of view, from a security point of view,” the senior police officer said.
“The Superintendent of the Prison was in the meeting, and he gave the staff the updates in relation to the behaviour patterns of this patient,” Bailey said, noting that after Woodley’s release from prison, he can no longer be referred to as a prisoner.
“He’s now a patient at the Mental health institution,” Bailey said, adding that Webster would have his own washroom facilities.
“So I hear the concerns but to say that you are fearful and he might escape, no, no, no. And besides that, security on the compound itself, in terms of manpower, more security will be on the ground, especially to deal specifically with Woodley.
“So let’s say, he is going to be taken from his house and he’s acting up, we’re going to have people there, security personnel earlier to deal exclusively with him in terms of the mental health staff going in, and they will be accompanied by security.”
He said this security will be “separate and distinct from the security that is there. … So, if the compound now has two, you may very well find that it is carrying six.”
Bailey said the approach to housing Woodley is holistic, catering for his help and safety and the security of the public.
He pointed out that a caller to the show had said that they are related to one of the people whom Woodley is alleged to have killed.
The caller said that the prosecution informed his family in January about the development.
“So the state took its responsibility seriously to go in and speak with the family and let them know what’s happening.”
The senior police officer said Woodley will have to be evaluated regularly, suggesting every six months.
“And if his condition improves, then at some point he may very well walk the streets of St. Vincent and the Grenadines again. But, at this point he’s not fit enough to do so,” Bailey said.
Bailey said that during Woodley’s incarceration, he received regular visits from a psychiatrist from overseas.
“So he has been receiving regular visits from the Mental Health personnel. As I said, a psychiatrist even came here from overseas and … [did] sessions with him.
“It [was] not … a single session, … they … have done several sessions with him to reach a point where we are now to say that, John public may not necessarily be in the safest place if he is, at this point, released to walk the streets of Kingstown.”
He said the state was not trying to punish Woodley again for his crime “but at this stage in his life, mentally, he needs more time to recuperate.
“And as I said, the assessment will be an ongoing one, so that after three, four years, if the assessment continues, and the health professionals are of the opinion that he has come around enough that he can be reintegrated among society, then that will happen. But at this time, he’s not.”