About a monthafter 21 Virgin Islands prisoners were transferred from Her Majesty’s Prison to St. Lucia, the decision has drawn criticism.

Governor Gus Jaspert approved the emergency transfer after more than 140 prisoners escaped from Balsam Ghut during Hurricane Irma. Though all but three were recaptured or returned voluntarily, the prison’s infrastructure was badly damaged.

Alva Baptiste, former minister for external affairs in St. Lucia, recently called the move to temporarily relocate a portion of the inmate population “a way of mewling at the feet of a foreign power.”

In an interview with MBC Television in St. Lucia, Mr. Baptiste argued that the prisoners — some of whom were convicted of crimes including murder and attempted murder — should not be St. Lucia’s responsibility.

“I don’t think that should have been our priority,” he said. “And I have been told that some of those prisoners are extremely rude; they are extremely disrespectful to the staff at the Bordelais Correctional Facility. I don’t think we should develop any tolerance for this type of foolishness.”

Not unprecedented

The transfer of prisoners from one island nation to another after a natural disaster is not unprecedented: Dozens of inmates were sent to St. Lucia from Grenada after Hurricane Ivan compromised Grenada’s correctional facility in 2004.

But Mr. Baptiste contrasted the two situations, pointing out that both Grenada and St. Lucia are full members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the Caribbean Community, and also share the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

The VI, by contrast, is an associate member of OECS and Caricom.

6-9 months

Mr. Jaspert, the VI governor, has estimated that the territory’s prisoners will remain in St. Lucia for up to “six or nine months.”

St. Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, who also serves as chairman of the OECS, has promised residents that the relocation will not affect their safety.

“Let me take the opportunity to assure all St. Lucians that your security is not being put at risk,” he said in a press release. “But I think this is the humane thing for us to have done at a time when our brothers and sisters and our friends and family need us the most. It is the most important time for us to stand up and be counted.”

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