From The Office of The Deputy Governor

The Cayman Islands Government (CIG) is seeking to establish a new monitoring framework and process for prisons and other places of incarceration, including Police Detention Centres and the Immigration Detention Centre. The monitoring visits will be conducted by a Board of community volunteers. The Board will sit under the Office of the Deputy Governor.

“We have identified the need to revisit and update both the Terms of Reference of the existing Prisons Inspection Board and the framework and standards for its work,” Acting Governor, Mr Franz Manderson has advised. “The goal is to provide regular, independent, preventive monitoring in order to ensure that human rights are upheld and that meaningful accountability is maintained,” Mr Manderson said.

The Bill of Rights in the Cayman Islands Constitutional Order requires that the Cayman Islands Government comply with national and international standards and in doing so ensure that proper standards of care and decency are maintained for premises designated for incarceration of persons.

“The inmates at Fairbanks, Northward and the various detention centres are members of our society,” remarked Minster Tara Rivers, whose Ministry is responsible for Prisons, “and we need to make sure that we are providing for them in a way that is humane, meets international obligations, and provides them with opportunities to meaningfully and successfully reintegrate into society once they leave the prison system.”

The project took a major step forward last week, 28 – 31 August, 2018, with a visit from a two-person team representing the UK’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for Prisons. They will be providing advice to the Government on the way forward and providing training for Board members. The Governor’s Office has provided funding for the initial visit last week, and for the training session for Board Members, which is being planned for later this year.

The team included Dame Anne Owers, the current National Chair of Independent Monitoring Boards and former Chief Inspector of Prisons and Ms Sue Bird, an experienced Independent Monitoring Board member and Chair, who is also a national trainer for IMB.

Dame Owers explained that the goal is to help the Cayman Islands to create a framework that is fit for purpose: “We aren’t coming to say the way we do it in the UK is the way you should do it on Cayman. The reason we are here is to find out about the particular circumstances here, the particular challenges and the opportunities so that you can create something here which is special for you and which works for your society, your prisoners, and those who work within your prisons.”

A prison monitor with ten years’ experience, Ms. Bird shared that the role of a prison monitor is to “ensure fairness and decency for those in custody. It’s important that we’re there and it’s important that we are people from everyday society, so that people can respond to us and we can report to the people that need to know and, in turn, create safer prisons and a better society for all.”

During the visit, the team worked with project team members from the Office of the Deputy Governor and the Governor’s office. They met with a wide range of stakeholders, including: the Acting Governor, Minister Tara Rivers, Management and staff of the Prisons service, the Police Commissioner, Management and staff of the HSA, other representatives from various Ministries and Departments who provide services and support to the prison service, as well as some prospective board members. The team also visited HM Northward Prison, Fairbanks Prison, the Police Detention Centre in George Town and the Immigration Detention Centre.

Dame Owers explained that the information collected from the various interactions will be used to help develop the prisons monitoring framework. “It’s for the benefit of all society that our prisons are places where people learn to live better lives rather than just going on to do what they did before, ”she explained. “That’s why it’s important to invest in prisons and that’s why it’s important that civil society is present in prisons to reflect back to the rest of society what’s actually going on and what can be helpful,” Dame Owers said.

Highlighting the value of this work, Director of Prisons, Steve Barrett, stated, “I am delighted that the Cayman Islands Government has taken steps to establish an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for the Prison Service. Such a Board, when fully functioning, will help to ensure that prisoners’ rights are upheld, and that their treatment and management is fair, and that prison regimes are shaped to support their rehabilitation and their ultimate release back to our communities.” Mr Barrett further shared, “The formal reporting mechanisms that are incumbent within the monitoring function will provide a valuable and, importantly, transparent overview of conditions and treatment of prisoners. The IMB and the prison service have a shared aim of ensuring that prison services are legally compliant and ethical.”

IMAGE:

Photo Elphina Jones, GIS

Orientation Meeting with UK team was attended by (l-r): Mary Rodrigues, Chief Advisor – Office of the Deputy Governor; Sue Bird, Independent Monitoring Board member and Chair; Dame Anne Owers, National Chair of Independent Monitoring Boards and former Chief Inspector of Prisons; Matthew Forbes, Head of Governor’s Office; Dr. Dax Basdeo, Chief Officer Ministry of Financial Services and Home Affairs; Maria Leng, Deputy Head of the Governor’s Office; Hon. Franz Manderson, Acting Governor; Hon. Tara Rivers, Minister Financial Services and Home Affairs.