Cops welcome new conditional release law

(CNS): Police management has welcomed the passage of a new law dealing with the release of offenders. Chief Superintendent, Kurt Walton said the Conditional Release Law is welcomed by the RCIPS to deter prisoners released from jail from committing repeated or new offenses. He said the police welcomed any collaborated effort to safely guard our community and that he would like to see prisoners on programmes some six months before their release into the community. The senior office said the RCIPS is just one spoke in the wheel and the police are keen to work with all agencies in the crime fighting battle.

“We, as the police, are often seen as the problem but we are … merely one spoke in the wheel. This has to be a collaborative effort by all other participants … within the criminal justice system,” he said as he welcomed the new legislation that is expected to address recidivism.

With the previous lack of supervision or release programmes, in the past offenders were released back into the communities without any support network. Without work and back in the same environment which led them to commit crime in the first place, many prisoners in Cayman have found themselves trapped in a catch and release programme.

During the debate last Friday on the Conditional Release Law, which is expected to complete its passage through the Legislative Assembly today (Wednesday 29 October), the premier revealed that Cayman has the highest rate of recidivism in the region, with 73% of released prisoners re-offending on release. Alden McLaughlin said Cayman had a costly prison system that did not fulfill its objectives.

Deputy Governor Franz Manderson described the new law as the greatest crime fighting effort for 50 years to really tackle recidivism and the revolving prison door. 

“Research shows that the longer someone is supervised in the community when they come out of prison, the less likely they are to re-offend, but if they are not supervised they will re-offend and that’s what we lived with for many years,” he stated.

Manderson also noted the need for a joined-up approach to the rehabilitation of offenders with all of the connected agencies. “Hopefully this will give them the fresh start that they need,” he said, adding that now government was taking the “bold and necessary step” to really do something about the persistent problem, things would change.