Vybz Kartel’s senior attorney Valerie-Neita Roberston is worried about his health and vulnerability to the coronavirus while he remains locked up.
We have all been waiting forever to hear a decision in Vybz Kartel’s appeal case, which seems to have hit a wall of further delays now that this global pandemic is upon us. The appeal lawyer for the dancehall mogul who is currently serving a life sentence on a murder charge spoke to the STAR and is admittedly concerned about measures not being in place to protect Vybz Kartel and other inmates from this vicious disease.
“I am very concerned about him and other inmates who have medical conditions and I don’t believe the authorities are dealing with it appropriately because we have too many instances where there are these types of outbreaks and they don’t do what they need to do,” she said. “I would think they could even place them on a hospital ward and isolate them and take extra precautions.”
Vybz Kartel has been taken to hospital for undisclosed reasons multiple times throughout the course of his incarceration. It is no wonder his legal representative – being in the know when it comes to his medical history and health condition – would be concerned about him not getting the proper sanitation coverage in the detention facility where he is being held.
“I am assuming visits have been stopped now but food is still coming in, and the virus can live on plastic for hours and they can’t spray the food,” Neita-Robertson told the STAR. “So I really don’t know what they are going to do but something needs to be done.”
Concerns are growing everywhere about inmates who are incarcerated together, not getting the proper care and hygienic efforts directed towards their living spaces. Jay Z and Yo Gotti are currently involved in a lawsuit against Mississippi prisons, urging them to take the necessary precautions to protect their inmates. Tekashi 6ix9ine’s lawyer is also pursuing every legal way possible to try to get the rapper out early, claiming to the court that he has a medical condition that makes him susceptible to the disease.
In Jamaica, multiple organizations have been reaching out to pool their efforts against the rapid spread of the outbreak. Recently Stand Up for Jamaica has made several suggestions to help control transmission, including a request to temporarily release inmates over 60 who have a chronic illness or week immune system or is generally at risk being in prison. While we don’t see that happening, we just hope whatever measures the government does plan to implement will be effective so we can all – inmates included – make it through this global disaster.
