EDITOR: Allow me this space to address a matter of grave concern. If there was an alternative route to get to North Leeward after you pass Barrouallie, most commuters would not have [driven] past Belle Isle Prison. If you are living in North Leeward, or have gone there recently, you probably know why.

I don’t know if it is from a septic tank, a toilet, the prison farm or waste material from the kitchen sink, but a water based liquid is running from the Belle Isle Prison along the main road that is so stink, foul, toxic, contaminated and unhealthy, it makes you want to vomit. The stench could be smelled from yards away. The odour is so strong and pronounced, you literally have to hold your breath when driving past the prison, or close your vehicle windows. It is an environmental hazard and a serious threat to human health and well being. If the earth on which this stinking water is running could have talk[ed], It’s voice would have thundered through the prison offices and cells.

What is also worrying is that this stinking odour has been emanating from the prison compound for a very long time now. Sadly, it is getting stinker and stinker, and more unbearable with each passing day. Because the water based odour is running relatively slow, it is leaving deposits in its track. Slims and sediments from the liquid could be seen along the road and in the bushes. This adds to the fiasco.

Fearing for their health, some animal owners have decided not to tie their animals close to the area where the stinking water is running.

If the prisoners housed at the Belle Isle facility

are made to inhale this stench, someone must be held accountable. With the same breath, if the relevant authority knows about this and are turning a blind eye to it, they too need to be held accountable. As they say, “your health is your wealth”, something to be guarded with due diligent. The incarcerated and the public have a right to a safe, comfortable and healthy environment.

In my humble estimation, there is no acceptable excuse for the Ministry of Health and the Environment not to be aware of this unfortunate situation. After all, it is the ministry’s responsibility to make sure that government facilities are kept safe, environmentally friendly and to acceptable standard. I suppose the ministry does periodic checks of all government buildings and communities to ensure that there is no threat to public health.

It goes without saying that this situation needs urgent and immediate attention.

Not a minute must be spared and no stone must be left unturned to remedy this menace. That said, I call upon the powers that be to fix the problem at Belle Isle Prison. Do so speedily, not only for the well being of the prisoners, and workers at the facility, but also for the general public.

Sylvan Samuel