JFJ Cautiously Welcomes Plan For New Multibillion-dollar Prison | RJR News
By Nakinskie Robinson
Plans for the new multibillion-dollar prison are getting a cautious welcome as human rights group, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) raises questions about the institution’s intended population size and financial arrangements.
JFJ says the renewed commitment to replace the country’s troubling correctional infrastructure is welcomed news, as local prisons have long suffered from overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, poor ventilation, and structural risks.
Executive Director Mickel Jackson, however, contends that the government must provide clarity on who the facility is intended for.
“We understand that there are some 3,600 adults in custody but only 2,255 of that number are convicted inmates in pre-trial detention who are remanded. It’s just about some 28 per cent of the population are convicted of murder or perhaps some of the more serious gang related offences. So I think it’s important that we look at the current population, understand who may actually be classified as high security risk and with that in mind, when you do that assessment, the question that we have to ask ourselves [is] what classification of prison will be built,” she reasoned.
State Minister in the Ministry of National Security and Peace, Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, last week explained that a site had been identified and a committee established to move the project forward.
She said the project remains in the planning phase with financing, including any public-private partnership, not yet finalised.
According to Ms. Jackson, the government must also clarify the nature of any public-private partnership being used to finance the facility.
“When we talk about public-private partnership, that, of course, includes one of the more common models where you have a private developer or private interest build, they own and operate, and then after a particular period that has been defined, they would transfer the facility to the state. I think we have to look at international experience where privately financed or operated prisons are concerned because it really raises questions about profit incentives, weaker transparency and reduced state control over rehabilitation and the conditions of confinement. And I think the goal always is to ensure, one, that human rights standards are always maintained,” she stressed.