The Editor, Sir:

The Jamaican government should use the General Penitentiary on Tower Street in Kingston and the District Prison in Spanish Town, St Catherine, to imprison all those gunmen convicted of possession of guns, while prisoners serving terms for other offences be placed in other less high security prisons, making space for the gunmen. In doing so, the government would be able to focus more on the gunmen.

It should also be the responsibility of the Jamaican government to ensure that these gunmen, who are serving over 10 years imprisonment, should be taught skills such as making concrete blocks, building construction, auto mechanic and other such trades so that when they re-enter society they are equipped with these skills to enter the work force.

Gunmen should be imprisoned for not less than 15 years for having an illegal gun. That would send a very serious signal to these gunmen for them to hand over their guns to the police or to church leaders.

What these gunmen are doing to Jamaica is blocking developers from coming to Jamaica to invest for the good of its own people.

I am, etc.,

S. L. ALLEN

lyndonallen@rogers.com, Toronto, Ontario

Via Go-Jamaica