In a decision handed down on May 28, 2026, Justice Dr H. Patrick Wells awarded claimant Corey Lynch $20 000 in damages after finding that prison authorities subjected him to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Lynch, who had been convicted of fraud, brought a constitutional claim against the Superintendent of Prisons as first defendant and the Attorney General. He was unrepresented but utilised a Mackenzie friend – Colin Roach – while attorneys Justin Nurse, Jared Richards, and Shawney Jobes appeared for the defendants.

Lynch’s ordeal began in January 2022, when he suffered a severe stab wound requiring multiple surgeries that left him with a stoma. He received the injury before he went to prison. The court found that instead of receiving the specialised medical care required for his condition, he was subjected to months of neglect and physical anguish.

Distressing testimony

The court heard distressing testimony regarding the systemic failures in the prison’s medical supply chain. Evidence showed that Lynch’s mother was forced to keep a logbook of the colostomy bags she bought out of her own pocket when the prison ran out of stock. Furthermore, a fellow inmate, Rawlins Rolle, testified that he had to assist Lynch with changing the ill-fitting bags and maintaining basic hygiene because prison medical staff failed to intervene.

Delivering the judgment Justice Wells stated: “The conduct complained of went beyond the ordinary discomforts of imprisonment. It exposed him to humiliation through leakage of bodily waste and to continuing pain through repeated use of bags known to damage his skin and failed to adhere properly.”

While counsel for the defendants argued that the prison had supplied some colostomy bags to the inmate, the judge firmly rejected this defence, noting that prison staff were fully aware the standard-issue bags were entirely inadequate for Lynch’s specific medical needs.

“The State cannot answer this claim by saying simply that some bags were supplied,” the court stated.

Skin condition

Justice Wells noted that instead of procuring the correct equipment, the prison’s response was characterised by “prolonged delay, shortage, and insistence at times that his mother should buy them because the preferred bags were too expensive”.

The court accepted Lynch as a truthful witness, noting his testimony was backed by the harrowing physical evidence of his deteriorating skin condition and the corroborating accounts of other inmates.

“The prison authorities were not dealing with a mere preference for one product over another. The claimant consistently said he needed the proper bags to survive safely in prison and to avoid sickness and infection,” the judge wrote.

The court declared that Lynch’s rights not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, and his right to security of the person under the Constitution of Barbados, were squarely violated by the State.

“The cumulative facts rise well above sub-optimal conditions or ordinary incidents of imprisonment. They amount to violations of the Constitution, and I so hold,” Justice Wells concluded.

He issued the following orders:

• The court declares that the right of the claimant not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment and to security of the person under the Constitution of Barbados were violated by the State.

• Damages are awarded to the claimant against the defendants in the sum of $20 000. Interest shall accrue on this sum at four per cent per annum from the date of filing to the date of judgment, and interest at a rate of six per cent per annum from date of judgment until the full judgment is paid.

• There shall be no order as to cost. ( MB)