Cayman’s prison service has struck a five-year partnership deal with Canada for training, improved intelligence sharing and emergency response work.
Daniel Greaves, the Cayman prisons director, said the new memorandum of understanding with Correctional Service Canada (CSC) was “a meaningful step” forward for the islands’ service and for public safety in general.
He added, “This partnership is about strengthening capability in the areas that matter most – leadership, intelligence and emergency readiness – while keeping rehabilitation and humane treatment at the centre of our work.
“CSC brings deep experience and proven models and this memorandum of understanding creates a practical framework for our teams to learn, train and build capacity in a way that supports safer facilities and better outcomes for our staff and the people in our care.”
The Canadian prison service manages a total of 43 federal jails, including six maximum security prisons, and employs about 19,000 people.
It is also responsible for 82 parole and sub-parole offices across the country, as well as 14 community correctional centres.
Collaboration
Talal Dakalbab, the Correctional Service Canada commissioner, said the MOU reflected “our commitment to collaboration and partnership, key foundations for strengthening our correctional systems”.
Dakalbab added, “Together, we continue to learn from one another and to share expertise. This next step in our partnership highlights the importance of our common values in modernising corrections, strengthening leadership development, supporting rehabilitation, ensuring safety and the humane treatment of those in our care.”
Nickolas DaCosta, Cayman’s Cabinet minister with responsibility for prisons, said the MOU reflected an ambition to continuously improve and provide a prison service with the highest standards in offender management.
He added, “This partnership with Canada helps us to deliver now and prepare for tomorrow, equipping our officers with stronger leadership development, improved intelligence capability and enhanced emergency response preparedness.
“Ultimately, that means safer staff, safer facilities and better rehabilitation outcomes that strengthen the Cayman Islands as a whole.”
A press release from the Cayman Islands Prison Service noted that there is a long history of collaboration between the Cayman and Canadian services. As far back as 1987, two senior HMP Northward Prison officers, Karl Lopez and Eric Smith, spent a month in CSC’s Quebec Region studying management techniques used in Canadian institutions, and Jean-Paul Lupien, former warden of Cowansville Institution in Canada, had been seconded to the Cayman Islands for two years.
“Against that background, the February 2026 signing is best understood not as the start of a relationship, but as the renewal of a longstanding partnership built on practical cooperation and professional exchange,” the release stated.
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