Governor awaiting MOH’s proposal for electronic prisoner tags
Governor John Rankin said he is awaiting a formal proposal from the Ministry of Health before moving forward with an initiative to introduce electronic tags for inmates at His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) in Balsam Ghut.
That initiative could possibly see a significant reduction in the territory’s prison population, particularly for inmates that are not considered dangerous.
Prison Superintendent, Guy Hill, previously told the Standing Finance Committee that there were more than 50 inmates on remand at HMP back in late 2021, with some ranging between six months to three years. According to Hill, the prison needs a lot of help as it relates to staffing, infrastructure, and rehabilitation. He also said it needed to recruit personnel who are actually interested in having a career at the institution.
Governor Rankin previously expressed that the implementation of these tags was a costly venture which would have to be budgeted for and further noted that those financial decisions are ‘out of his hands’.
But during a recent press conference, the Governor said he had already raised the issue with the previous Minister for Health, Marlon Penn.
“I hope [the tags] can be introduced and I’m happy to assist in that area, because that could help to reduce the number of prisoners on remand in the prison and help to tackle any problems of overcrowding,” the Governor stated.
Turning his attention to the issue of staffing, Rankin said the UK government continues to assist the prison and explained that there is an experienced UK prison officer from Pentonville Prison currently assisting the prison superintendent and his team in their work.
Governor Rankin said this is in addition to the security and safety equipment for prisoners which the he said the UK has previously helped to fund.
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What they should be more focused on is to try and run it like a PRISON and not a getaway resort. Those prisoners have access to internet,drugs, alcohol, weapons etc. The slackness up there has been going on for too long and that’s why criminals don’t mind spending time up there.
how electronic tags on inmates would cause a “significant reduction” of inmates.
The 2020/21 pandemic proved that electronic wristbands did not prevent visitors from escaping quarantine.
1. Inmates are properly screened for this alternative and are low risk offenders, and
2. The technology works given the hilly terrain of the territory. Some of this technology is internet bases.
We all know internet services can be poor in certain areas. There cannot be any blind spots whereby a prisoner can roam around freely undetected and potentially reoffend during such times. That would be a disaster.
Thus while a good initiative, imo all precautions should be taken to ensure this form of monitoring will work as intended.
Powers think about the future of your Majestic Life.
Would be great if some are incarcerated in prisons elsewhere.,..this would be a needed contribution to the VI by origin Caribbean countries. Also a moratorium on Immigrants from countries with the most offendersl
A juvenile detention facility is also now needed in the BVI.
One by one we ah cut dem down.
hell no. they are humans, not animals!!!
Wrist bands & leg tags while similar but has differences, while both can be disabled by the user a good quality leg tap is much more sophisticated and harder to get rid off.
An unelected person in any country should not have the authority this man has because they are not accountable to the people. The arrogance and high handedness of this man is showing out more and more daily.
Foy has been wearing one for months and I dont hear him barking. Seems it works on humans!
Another Government no bid contract , but what’s going to happen when all those tags arrive at the HOA car park at the same time ?
this is racist just like they tagged the slaves I am sick of this governor he continue to show his hands.
If someone needed to file a complaint to the Governor directly, what is the best way to do so? How can someone get in touch?
It’s interesting how you drew this conclusion that GPS monitoring is somehow racist and the governor by extension is also racist because of this.
The purpose of such measures is to deal with prison overcrowding. It allows some degree of control over low level offenders without their being in prison.
Don’t want to have one on your ankle? You have two choices:
1. Don’t commit crimes, or
2. Stay in jail.
The choice is yours.
Not a bad initiative. Is it less expensive to keep them than tag them? Who I’ll be responsible for monitoring them? What new laws will have to be passed to punish those who find some way of getting them off. Under what or whose portfolio will this fall. Who will take the fall when it fail? Best we get the prison staff up to par, adding s locks. CCTV for starters. Blocks could be subdivided into immigration, juvenile, female and petty crime offenders. Let’s see how that work first than having our so-called low risk calling in classics.
Not only is this a good idea but we should put them to cut bush or something as well. Imagine they got weed and alcohol up there chillin is like what kind of place is this?!