New heads appointed in Ministry of Justice Sint Maarten

August 03, 2012 7:33 AM

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Justice Roland Duncan introduced new major players within the Ministry of Justice Edward Rohan and Vidjai Jusia at the Cabinet of the Minister of Justice on Thursday, 2 August.

Edward Rohan is serving as the new Interim Director of the Pointe Blanche prison, taking over from Rudsel Ricardo who is retiring from his position. Rohan was described by Minister Duncan as a "son of the soil" with vast experience in the correctional field. He worked in the UNDP correctional facility in Scheveningen, the Netherlands and other correctional facilities in Haarlem and Alphen aan den Rijn for 15 years. Rohan is trained in Security Management and Prison Law and Management.
 
Vidjai Jusia is serving as the new Head of Judicial Affairs. Duncan explained that this aspect of the ministry was responsible for supervising, inspecting, preparing and executing laws, among other things.
 
Jusia has worked as a staff lawyer at Division of the State Council ABRvS since 1993 and played a crucial role in establishing the Department of General and Legal and Affairs in St. Eustatius. He also contributed to Curaçao's decentralisation of the execution of the Netherlands Antilles tax law, among other major accomplishments.
 
Rohan and Jusia have been approved by the Council of Ministers. Both started work as of August 1.
 
Duncan officially welcomed Rohan and Jusia, saying he "expects good work" and it would be "challenging and interesting." "They are fulfilling major positions," he said. The new appointees were then presented with token notepads and pens, rendering them "well equipped to take notes."
 
Rohan has been at the prison for only three days and commented that what he had discovered so far was that "there's a lot of work to do." He was asked at the press conference about his thoughts and "modes of attack" on pressing issues like forbidden substances and items being smuggled into the prison and at the detention facility in Simpson Bay, where items are seen being pulled up to the inmates by rope.
 
Rohan responded, "These kinds of things happen in every prison. ... The only thing you can do is make sure that security is real tight." He also noted as he had just arrived, he had to "dig into" the situation more to better curb this issue.
 
Rohan faces many challenges in his new position, as the Ministry is considering setting a new date for renovations at the correctional facility in Pointe Blanche, implementing a solution for inmates under 25 to be held in a separate facility, and the way the Simpson Bay facility is managed, among other challenges, Duncan said.
 
With reference to Jusia, he said that Judicial Affairs was "a work in progress." The department's first task is to get itself going and expand the work. Judicial Affairs is responsible for the Ministry's finances, deals with public law, immigration law, appeals, civil matters, guardianship, criminal law and parole, among other things.

(The Daily Herald)