Officials announce review of prison rehabilitaiton
(CNS): With Cayman’s per-capita prisoner population one of the highest in the world, government officials say they are committed to addressing the problems in the prison system and related services and have brought in help from Canada. According to government, the goal is to reduce the high rate of reoffending and the ‘revolving-door’ effect that is common for many offenders and focus on rehabilitation. The annual prison budget is now $14 million — some four per cent of government’s operational expenditure. The examination of the system is being led by the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada, as well as local private and public sector stakeholders.
“Nothing is off-limits,” said Deputy Chief Officer Kathryn Dinspel-Powell, who is coordinating the project. “Prison management was reviewed five years ago with renewed focus on rehabilitation and recidivism,” she said but added there remained a need for broader assessment of rehabilitation, incorporating related agencies.
The assistance of Deputy Chief Judge Allan Lefever, of the Provincial Court of Alberta, and Assistant Deputy Minister JoAnn Miller-Reid, of Ontario’s Youth Justice Services Division from IPAC has been enlisted to deliver an Implementation Plan. If the specific recommendations for improvement are accepted, the goal will be to enable government to budget appropriately, achieve maximum value for money and enhance inter-agency collaboration and asset-sharing. This is intended to produce better outcomes for criminal offenders and the community as a whole.
Reducing recidivism is also one of the four objectives of the Crime Reduction Strategy recently launched by the Governor-in-Cabinet. The CRS also focuses on early intervention, crime prevention and situational prevention, as well as reducing overlaps and duplication of efforts.
Deputy Chief Officer Eric Bush said this collaborative approach was necessary to “rebuild the road-map towards inmate rehabilitation”.
The IPAC consultants have already held individual meetings with several of the stakeholder agencies and should complete their review by mid-December. The Implementation Plan should be received during January 2012.
Category: Crime
It would appear some very positive changes have come to this portfolio I am just wondering how long it will last before certain jealous interest or elements will step in to frustrate and obstruct progress that is way they usually do it in Government.Those who are effecient or effective never make it in this old system of attrition and constipation.
A criminal culture has been allowed to develop, grow and flourish.
The lack of inattention, by Govt, to intervention of youth embracing this culture is deplorable.
Their only solution to date has been, Do the Crime and Maybe do Some Time. Prisons are over capacity and not the answer to recidivism…
Criminals are released and the cycle is repeated…. they only return. What now?
One solution would be to physically remove all offenders off island permanently…but who and where would accept them?
This would still not erase the memories and the actions, of our criminal element, that have been seeded in the minds of the younger generation.
It’s a downward spiral that should have been addressed earlier, but was neglected.
Like it or not, it’s now a part of our Caymanian Culture.
The best we can do is try to limit it; it’s not going to disappear.
Too bad things had to go this far!
Great news and I am happy to see we have reached out to Canada. Great work by the Portfolio
if you run it like a prison and treat them like prisoners they would think twice about reoffending. As o now the only thing they dont have there is their freedom.
Having your freedom taken from you is enough I believe. It doesnt matter how long you've been in there for, you still feel it. I dont think its the jails fault necessarily that these inmates re-offend. But if your releasing an inmate without the proper tools they need in order to blend in society, they are bound to re-offend. My question is what change are you giving these inmates once they are released??
Pls! Some of these re-offenders have a better life in prison than outside!
Free Cable, Internet, Food and don't have to work and pay bills.
For someone that doesn't have the desire and ambitition to work prison is something to strive for.
Prison should be harsh. It should be a deterrent not a housing facility.
As part of prison rehabilitation look at the rate of rehabilitation at Caribbean haven treatment center, what is their recovery rate?