We are at a loss to understand why a senior judge would be encouraging prisoners to go on a hunger strike. But this was the advice proffered by High Court judge Herbert Volney on Monday, who argued that this would bring attention to overhauls needed in the criminal justice system. ’What you need to do is go on a hunger strike so that those responsible will feel the pain of those languishing in prison. I am sure there are some accused in prison who probably can’t remember what they are in prison for,’ he told the court.

Now there is no doubt that justice is far too delayed in Trinidad and Tobago. But Justice Volney’s curious remarks have only served to trivialise an important issue. For one thing, this kind of action was never going to fly, since hunger strikes are not part of our culture of protest. For another, if the authorities have so far ignored the dehumanising conditions prisoners live under, a hunger strike is hardly going to change their attitude. Most importantly, however, it seems rather reckless for a judge to be stirring up prisoner discontent when two prison officers have recently been shot.

In any case, Justice Volney’s remarks were made in the narrow context of his own courtroom. While it is true that there is a huge backlog of cases waiting to be heard, it is also true that the judiciary has made significant progress in the past six years in speeding up court matters. According to the Annual Report of the Judiciary 2008-2009, 4623 civil matters were filed in the past year, and 4968 were determined, with a backlog of 585 cases. About 85 per cent of these matters were determined within a two-year period. In criminal matters, more cases were disposed than filed in 2003, 2006, and 2007, but the backlog increased in 2004, 2005, and 2008. Even so, last year, two-thirds of criminal cases were disposed of within two years of being filed.

The fact is, many of the challenges in the country’s legal system could be handled by bureaucratic improvements: more computerisation, more clerical staff, better training. This applies to all branches of the system, from the Police Service to the prison system to the judiciary itself. Unfortunately, improving procedures and buying needed equipment is stodgy, long-term, and unglamorous work. It doesn’t get attention in the way remarks about hunger strikes, or freeing an accused young man from a prominent family without a jury trial, do. But it is the bedrock on which an efficient society is built.

So perhaps, the next time he gets outraged at the many defects of our legal system, Justice Volney can heap calumny on time management methods.