Exploring the infeasibility of enforcing mandatory in-prison rehabilitation in Jamaica

ABSTRACT

Only about 21% of adult inmates in Jamaica participate in formal rehabilitation programmes.¹ As such, the government has taken steps to make in-prison rehabilitation mandatory. By drawing on interviews with 73 formerly incarcerated persons, this article explores the viability and practicability of mandatory in-prison rehabilitation. The evidence suggests that if made mandatory, in-prison rehabilitation may not support the effective reintegration of inmates who value agency. Coercion could also amplify change-resistant behaviours, and limited administrative capacity might also challenge the effective enforcement of the mandate. Towards achieving the effective reintegration of newly released persons and lowering the recidivism rate, the article proposes some correctional reforms which the Jamaican state can pursue in the absence of adequate capacity to implement mandatory in-prison rehabilitation. Such reforms include the need to bolster and enhance good governance systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Prison
• inmates
• rehabilitation
• reintegration
• Jamaica

Acknowledgments

The UK’s Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funded the research reported here. I am grateful for their support. All views expressed here are solely those of the author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. see AGD (2014, p. 23)

2. Refers to category one cimes namely murder, shooting, rape, aggravated assault, robbery and break-in.

3. Estimate taken from the 2022 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (ESSJ) produced by the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s (PIOJ, 2023). The ESSJ defines murder, shooting, robbery, break-in, rape and aggravated assault as major or category one crimes.

4. Estimate taken from the 2021 ESSJ produced by the PIOJ.

5. See https://www.iadb.org/en/news/idb-study-highlights-ways-reduce-prison-population-caribbean

6. Size of the custodial population taken from PIOJ 2022.

7. Gilchrist (2022), n.p.

8. See https://jdisabilstud.org/files/site1/user_files_536bf5/babaie-A-10-579-3-a6bda28.pdf

9. See https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin-Lee-28/publication/343180245_Community-Based_Approaches_to_the_Prevention_Rehabilitation_and_Reintegration_of_Drug_Offenders_The_Singapore_Anti-Narcotics_Association/links/5f1a858b45851515ef44cf6c/Community-Based-Approaches-to-the-Prevention-Rehabilitation-and-Reintegration-of-Drug-Offenders-The-Singapore-Anti-Narcotics-Association.pdf

10. See for example https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395917303456

11. See https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044249

12. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20191111/hickling-rubbishes-new-report-treatment-mentally-ill-inmates-former-bellevue.

13. See https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20240310/legal-fight-free-mentally-ill-prisoners

14. Although Japan’s calculation of recidivism might include arrests, Jamaica’s calculation does not.

15. See for example https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/1995/jan/15/japan-uses-prison-slave-labor/

16. Early 16^th century to 1834 when emancipation took effect

17. See https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/this-week-in-history-16-inmates-die-in-jamaicas-1997-prison-riots/

18. https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20231029/fighting-those-denied-justice

19. establishes the principle that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.

20. emphasises that the arrest, detention, or imprisonment of a child should be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period.

21. Public hanging did not cease in England until 1868.

22. See https://jis.gov.jm/electronic-monitoring-pilot-project-to-be-launched-october-8/

23. Prior to 1759 Jamaica had only one prison; the Middlesex County Gaol in Spanish Town (Paton, 2001). Today, Jamaica has 11 correctional centres.

24. https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20231020/judges-call

25. https://www.dcs.gov.jm/pages/about/

26. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session9/JM/GIEACPC_EndAllCorporalPunishmentofChildren.pdf#:~:text=1.4%20In%20the%20penal%20system%2C%20corporal%20punishment%20is,1995%29%20and%20the%20Child%20Care%20and%20Protection%20Act.

27. Read Neis Araujo (2023)

28. https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20170117/national-council-drug-abuse-2016-national-drug-prevalence-survey

29. That is, to impress the parole board and improve their chances of a favourable parole decision.

30. see Jamaica | World Prison Brief (prisonstudies.org)

31. See for example https://japarliament.gov.jm/attachments/article/2529/The-INDECOM-Quarterly-Report—Q1—January-to-March-2022.pdf

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission [JMCS-2011-206]; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office [JMCS-2011-206].