Washington – A new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study has highlighted ways to increase public safety in the Caribbean by focusing on reducing pre-trial detentions and expanding rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for incarcerated people.
The Washington, D.C.-based financial institution says the report analyses survey data collected from both sentenced and remanded individuals in six Caribbean countries from 2016-2019: The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
In these countries, the report finds that the average prison population is 93 per cent male and the average age of inmates is 33 years old.
The study says that unconvicted prisoners constitute a large portion of the prison population in the Caribbean, and that these pre-trial detainees spend an average of 2.5 to four years in prison before sentencing, “often in worse conditions than those already convicted of a crime”.
Individuals in pre-trial detention were also found to have experienced higher levels of victimisation and violence compared to sentenced individuals.
The study says that pre-trial detainees reported higher rates of victimisation in almost all countries under study, except for Barbados and Suriname.
“Data shows that inmates on provisional detention are more likely to live in overcrowded circumstances than sentenced prisoners,” the study says.
For example, in The Bahamas, 77 per cent of pretrial detainees lived in overcrowded conditions, compared to 62 percent of sentenced individuals.
The study says a similar case is observed in Trinidad and Tobago, where 51 per cent of people on remand live in cramped facilities, compared with 23 per cent of sentenced individuals.
The report also highlights the impact of not having effective or sufficient prison rehabilitation and reintegration programmes in the Caribbean.
In aggregate terms, it says 41 per cent of inmates surveyed in the six countries of the study were recidivists or repeat offenders, compared to 33 per cent of Latin American prison populations.
In the Caribbean, the study finds roughly 40 per cent of recidivists return to prison within six months to one year of release, depending on the country.
Also, less than one in five prisoners has access to rehabilitation and reentry services, which have been shown to reduce recidivism and repeat offending, the study finds.
In order to increase the effectiveness of penitentiary policies, the report recommends “broad reforms that take an integrated approach to security and justice in the Caribbean”.
Key recommendations include establishing programmes to divert people who have committed non-serious offences, and reforming judicial procedures and strengthening pre- and post-release services, among others.
The study says that the COVID-19 health crisis has highlighted the impact of prisons on society, “as many prisons have become transmission hotspots”.
The study underscores this finding and advocates new ways of reducing prison populations, “with creative approach to justice and rehabilitation.” (CMC)
