Is Prison Reform Needed in Jamaica?

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed just how urgently Jamaica needs to overhaul the justice systems, including correctional facilities. Has the time come for Jamaica to adopt a more systems approach to justice administration? And how exactly do current approaches betray the ‘rehabilitation aim’ of prison sentences, with over 40 % of criminals re-offending after incarceration?

To discuss Jamaica’s correctional services issues from an international perspective we are joined by Former Deputy Superintendent of Administration at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton Kevin Junor and head of the Jamaica Diaspora Crime Task Force Dr. Rupert Francis.