Stand Up for Jamaica questions Government's $8b–$10b prison plan

Human rights organisation Stand Up for Jamaica is questioning the Government’s plan to build a new maximum-security correctional facility, arguing that Jamaica should focus on rehabilitation and separating serious offenders from those convicted of less serious crimes.

In a statement on Monday, Executive Director Maria Carla Gullotta said that while the country’s existing correctional facilities are “deplorable” and in need of replacement, the proposed $8 billion to $10 billion investment raises questions about whether a large maximum-security prison is the most appropriate solution.

Gullotta said correctional institutions have two main purposes: protecting society from dangerous offenders and rehabilitating those who can be reintegrated into society. However, she argued that Jamaica’s current system does not adequately separate the two groups.

“A central problem of Jamaica’s detention system is the combining of both groups in single institutions,” she said, warning that offenders convicted of minor crimes can be exposed to “the attitudes and ways of serious criminals”, potentially turning prisons into “a school of crime”.

Gullotta said the proposed facility should therefore be guided by a clear vision and differentiated interventions based on the nature of offences and sentences.

She argued that only about 300 to 400 people in Jamaica’s prison population fall into the category of highly dangerous or predatory offenders and said the high-security facility required for them “will certainly not require anywhere near $8 billion”.

Gullotta suggested that a facility modelled on the prison in Marion, Illinois, could be adapted to house the most dangerous offenders separately, while the estimated 3,500 to 4,000 inmates convicted of less serious offences could be accommodated in lower-security facilities focused on rehabilitation.

She pointed to Tamarind Farm Correctional Centre as a possible model, saying two additional facilities of a similar nature, with adequate but lower levels of security, would not require billion-dollar investments.

“Rehabilitative efforts would not be excluded,” Gullotta said, stressing that the Government must retain control over the objectives, philosophy and outcomes of the correctional system, even if private entities are brought in to manage facilities.

Her comments come as the Government advances plans for a new maximum-security correctional facility in St Catherine.

READ: https://web5.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20260909/govt-plans-8b-max-security-prison

Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security and Peace Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn said last week that a site had been identified and a committee established to move the project forward. She said Jamaica would “no longer rely on infrastructure designed by a bygone era”.

Cuthbert-Flynn later clarified to The Gleaner that work had so far been limited to the planning phase, while financing arrangements, including whether the Government would pursue a public-private partnership, have not been finalised.

The proposed project is expected to cost between $8 billion and $10 billion and would provide purpose-built infrastructure for rehabilitation, enhanced security, improved operational efficiency and better working conditions for correctional officers.

The Government’s wider modernisation programme includes a $2.5-billion investment over four years in an e-corrections strategy, aimed at creating an integrated digital platform linking correctional institutions, probation offices and the courts.

Cuthbert-Flynn has also emphasised that modernisation must extend beyond infrastructure and technology, describing correctional officers as “security professionals, first responders, mentors and agents of behavioural change”.

Gullotta, meanwhile, said Jamaica should build on existing efforts to improve correctional standards rather than abandon them.

She referenced a recently drafted review of standards by the Bureau of Standards, describing it as “quite innovating and rewarding” and a significant step forward for both incarcerated people and correctional officers.

“We should not delegate the work we have achieved through quality teamwork,” she said.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.