Correctional Services
in Jamaica is a department under the Ministry of National Security.
Other major arms of the Ministry are the Police Force and the Jamaica
Defence Force. The Judicial System
falls under the Ministry of Justice. The
Commissioner of Corrections is the chief executive officer who administers the
Correctional programmes on behalf of the Government of Jamaica and reports to
the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Security.
During
the post-independence years the prison system in Jamaica was composed of three
(3) main entities: the Prisons, the Probation Services and the Approved Schools
which functioned separately in the implementation and execution of the
correctional functions of the Government. This
distinction of roles in the administrative process created an inefficient system
plagued with inconsistencies and duplication.
To rectify this problem, in 1975 an administrative directive ordered that
the three bodies be joined to form one department.
This union led to the formation of the Department of Correctional
Services, one of the main facets of the Ministry of National Security and
Justice. Prior to the merger in
1975, the conceptual function of the prison system was that of punishment.
However, the merger forged new directions for the Correctional Services
as opportunities were opened for rehabilitation and care.
In
keeping with this new philosophy on offender management, in 1978 the Criminal
Justice Reform Act was passed in Parliament and introduced new alternatives to
incarceration (non-custodial sentences). In
addition to Probation Order, non-custodial options are:
· Community Service Order (CSO) – an order to complete at least 40 hours (now being revised) of unpaid work within the community
·
Suspended Sentence Supervision Order – an
option where the Court defers the sentence and the offender is given a chance to
prove himself in the community.
· Voluntary Supervision – recommended by the court when the offender is deemed to be in need of counselling or treatment outside of the formal sentencing system
·
Probation Order – allows the offender a form
of community based rehabilitation
In
addition to these non-custodial options, the Department also introduced other
rehabilitative mechanisms to assist in the successful re-integration of the
individual into society. These
include the After-care Programme, Licence, Hostel Placement and Statutory
Supervision and Parole (Act passed 1978).
The
Department of Correctional Services is comprised of seven (7) Adult Correctional
Centres, one (1) Adult Remand Centre, four (4) Juvenile Centres, and seventeen
(17) Community Service Offices (Probation Offices) located island wide all under
the directorship of the Department’s chief executive officer, the Commissioner
of Corrections.
In
the year 2000, the Department celebrated its 25th anniversary and the
Probation Offices celebrated their 50th anniversary.
The anniversary was not only a period of celebration culminating in
‘Corrections Week’, but it was also a period of reorganization when the
philosophical and conceptual functions of the Department were revisited and
restructured to reflect a 21st century approach to the correctional
process. This paradigm shift is
reflected in newly outlined Mission and Vision Statements and Correctional
Process which solidified the focus and function of the Department towards the
idea of a National Rehabilitation Strategy which would concentrate on the
empowerment of its clients (inmates/wards).
Today,
the Department has three (3) core functional areas:
·
Custodial
Services (Adults and Juveniles)
·
Rehabilitation,
·
Human
Resource Management and Community Services.
These
three core areas seek to provide facilities for admission, incarceration and
welfare of inmates and wards; to administer the probation, parole and hostel
services operating in the community and to provide the necessary reports that
will assist the Courts to make informed decisions in selected cases; to
implement rehabilitation programmes for inmates, offenders and wards including
educational programmes, individual group counselling, spiritual/religious
instruction and other treatment programmes; and to develop, implement and
evaluate procedures to ensure fiscal responsibility.