Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro Blair.

Tenesha Thomas, Gleaner Writer

CHAIRMAN OF the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), Bishop Herro Blair, is proposing radical changes to the Parole Act as part of measures to curb Jamaica's worrying crime rate.

Speaking to The Gleaner-Power 106 News Centre after a Kiwanis meeting Monday, Bishop Blair said the act should be amended to make it impossible for convicted mur-derers to be released from prison.

Under the Parole Act, a convicted murderer sentenced to life in prison may become eligible for parole after serving seven years in the event that the court does not specify a period.

But Bishop Blair is adamant that the seven-year period is too short.

Hanging rejected

"You might have been sentenced for life, but you get out after seven or 10 years; that can't be life in my opinion. Yet the person who is sentenced for 40 years may be sentenced for longer than the person sentenced for life," noted Bishop Blair.

Meanwhile, Bishop Blair has rejected suggestions for the resumption of hanging.

He said that other forms of punishment should be considered. According to him, murderers must be placed behind bars for good, in an effort to reduce the risk of them committing a similar offence upon their release from prison.

"I would ensure that all murderers are kept away and they would never see the light of day again, they would never go back into their communities," he declared.

He has also expressed concern about the number of males in the island's penal institutions. The PMI head noted that statistics from the Department of Corrections indicate that of the 464 persons incarcerated for murder between 2002 and 2006, some 94 per cent were males.