Options to jail

ANKLE MONITORING and electronic surveillance are being explored by Government as some of the alternatives to simply locking up people at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds.

Speaking at a Barbados Prison Services anniversary church service at Ellerton Wesleyan Holiness Church, St George, yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson said something had to be done to help reduce the prison population.

“The reality is that we have too high a number of reoffenders . . . . over 60 per cent. About 40 per cent of that is those who commit a crime within six months or so after coming out of prison. 

“A lot of these are related to drug offences and we are trying to address that at a societal level. There needs to be discussion on alternative sentencing such as ankle monitoring and electronic surveillance,” he told the gathering.

Hinkson said the prison, which was built to house 1 250, now had 800 inmates and he was looking to cut down that number, as the alternatives came with a cost.  Subscribe now to our eNATION edition.

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