Jamaica

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Jamaica: mentally ill incarcerated people denied release from prison

News

Central America and the Caribbean Mental health Jamaica

Applications by the Legal Aid Council for the Supreme Court to release six incarcerated people with mental disorders, who were unfit to plead, were refused because the Judge Leighton Pusey found that there were no appropriate accommodations for them.

November 5, 2020

Jamaica: helping move mentally ill out of prison not an issue

News

Central America and the Caribbean Access to legal rights Mental health Jamaica

“Resources and funding” have been identified by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton as the hurdles that his ministry would need to clear in order to find suitable spaces so that mentally ill prisoners can be removed from correctional facilities. A recommendation for “some place other…

March 11, 2020

Jamaica: the agony of serving time in prison while pregnant

News

Central America and the Caribbean Women Health Jamaica

In Jamaica, women incarcerated while pregnant face the painful reality of being separated from their newborn up to six months after giving birth — a reality which often leads to anxiety and depression for the rest of their stay in prison.

January 2, 2020

Jamaica: judges still tossing children "behind bars" for uncontrollable behaviour, years after efforts started to end practice

News

Central America and the Caribbean Minors Jamaica

Human rights advocacy group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) has raised concerns that the practice has re-emerged and provided The Sunday Gleaner with statistics which suggest that in 2018, some 413 children (211 males and 203 girls) appeared before court, not for committing an offence but for exhibitin…

October 27, 2019

Jamaica: inmate takes action against state out of fear of going blind

News

Jamaica

Former district constable and garage operator, 67-year-old Linton Berry, is crying for help from prison as he fears losing his sight because of the lack of a proper diet and medication for his diabetes.

June 12, 2017

Terror behind bars: damning report on treatment of homosexuals in Jamaica prisons

News

Jamaica

Jamaica has long been regarded as a homophobic country, and now a damning report on HIV/AIDS in the country’s prisons has unearthed some alarming problems. According to a new report, Barriers Behind Bars, inmates who have been identified as lesbian or gay are being unfairly treated. The report prep…

June 8, 2017

Jamaica: prisons to receive urgent upgrade following Tower Street blaze

News

Jamaica

Several of the island’s correctional facilities are in need of urgent infrastructural development, and the Tower Street Adult Correctional Facility in downtown Kingston is among those to receive priority focus, Senator Pearnel Charles Jr, minister of state in the Ministry of National Security, has…

February 28, 2017

Jamaica: correctional officers, recruits to be polygraphed in prison corruption clampdown

News

Jamaica

The National Security Ministry has announced that all correctional officers and recruits are to be polygraphed as part of new measures aimed at cutting the smuggling of cell phones and other contraband into correctional facilities.

February 19, 2017

Jamaica: plea for the unfit - proposal to transfer the mentally ill from prisons

News

Mental health Jamaica

Persons held in Jamaica’s prisons who have been deemed ‘unfit to plead’ could be moved into a more fitting environment if the Government accepts the recommendations of the Mental Health and Homelessness Task Force, established by Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton.

January 6, 2017

Jamaica: justice centers to be established

News

Jamaica

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck is moving to have justice centres established in each parish to provide training for justices of the peace (JPs) in the areas of restorative justice, mediation and child diversion.