By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

AN American woman declared yesterday that she will never return to the Bahamas and is asking her friends to also boycott after facing deplorable conditions in a holding cell at the Central Police Station.

Frequent visitor Marjorie McClain, 53, said she was shell-shocked by the state of the holding facility, which she described as surreal, and is still reeling in disbelief that Bahamians subject their own people to such inhumane treatment.

She also criticised a slow, inept and disorganised judicial system during an interview with The Tribune.

The Indiana native was arrested on Monday at the Lynden Pindling International Airport for failing to declare some $64,000 in casino winnings from the Atlantis resort as she travelled back home.

“I was told from other inmates that tourists usually go to Cable Beach (Police Station),” she said, “but it was not possible because no female guards were on duty because of the holiday (Monday).

“It was the most stunning, nasty, inhumane place I’ve ever seen in my life. It looked like a movie, it was unreal.”

She added: “I turned that corner and it took my breath away. I always thought I was a relatively strong person. But I was wrong because I cried like a baby all night.

“The Bahamian people do this to their own people, the women’s (holding cell) was bad enough but the men – I don’t know how many men were in those cells – people were (urinating) on each other. The guy in the cell next to me was (defecating) in a bag.”

She claimed that the morning after her arrest, police officers told her they normally keep tourists at the Cable Beach police station.

“That’s saying to me you’re valuing the tourist more than your own people. That’s wrong. I’m not for making a jail like the Hilton,” she said, “but my goodness. I’m not exaggerating I would not put my animal in that place.”

She also claimed that United States customs officials were “awful” and did not try to help her.

“I think they enjoyed the fact that I would have to spend the night in jail. They told me that they called the embassy, but I guess I was kind of ignorant I never thought to ask to talk to them. But once I got in the cell there was no one to ask, no one ever came back.”

Mrs McClain said she was taken to the Central Detective Unit around 5pm and remained there until 11.30pm when she was then taken to the Central Police Station. Once there, she was put in a cell with a Canadian woman.

“When I walked in there,” she said, “there was in the corner an 18’’ by 18’’ area of (urine). The girl I was with said it was there when she got there, and they never made an attempt to clean it. Several people came by in the morning when the shift changed. No one ever even looked at it like it was unusual.

“No one came back, there was no water, no blanket, no pillow,” she said. “They didn’t ask if I needed to go to the restroom, nothing. There are no windows, no clock, no anything, no one ever came back again until 6 in the morning.”

Mrs McClain claimed: “My cell mate had been there since 10am and her friend had brought her water, so she was kind enough to share with me. But she kept telling me don’t drink much because you don’t want to go to the bathroom.

“I thought to myself I’m a country girl I can take it. But when we went to the restroom, I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t even know the words to use it was just like it had never been cleaned, ever. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t go to the restroom, I just stood there. I don’t know what to say about that, just awful.”

Despite being told that court started at 10am, Mrs McClain said that she was not taken over to the courthouse until 11.45am and did not see the magistrate until around 1pm.

She appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes, who confiscated the winnings and gave her an absolute discharge.

While the actual court proceedings were brief, she lamented that the entire process was unclear and confusing.

“It was just inept,” she said, “everybody you asked a question, you got a different answer. They couldn’t tell you what’s going on, what the process is. They weren’t mean; they just wouldn’t give you any correct information.

“When I saw my sister I just collapsed. As an adult I lost both of my parents and I felt bad that this experience made me cry more than when they died. Since I’ve been home it’s constantly on my mind. I can’t get past thinking about it.

“I will never go back, and I will tell anyone who will listen to never go there,” she said.