The idea of sending hardened criminals out of the country to serve their sentences may sound good on the surface.
But before any action is taken on this suggestion, a lot of thought and discussion must take place.
The United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories in the Caribbean are discussing the possibility of creating a combined prison facility for the most violent or high-risk inmates.
The site – yet to be determined – would house convicts such as murderers, rapists and violent robbers from all over the region. Each territory would pay a percentage of the operation and maintenance costs.
We can envision this as a way for a poorer country to make much needed money.
The idea is that small countries like the Cayman Islands wouldn’t spend as much housing hardened criminals here. Between 2009 and 2010 the Cayman Islands was spending on average just over $56,000 a year on each prisoner.
And while the prison system in the Cayman Islands is overcrowded, prisoners here do get a chance to see their family members when they choose to visit.
If criminals were sent to another country, it would seem that government would have to come up with some provision to provide family access to those criminals. That in itself seems like it would be a costly venture.
The question also has to be asked about the future of those overseas inmates. What will happen when they have served their time and return home? Will they have learned to have honed their criminal skills by having served time with hardened criminals from the Caribbean?
Dr. Frank McField has said time and again that crime in the Cayman Islands is at the level it is because in the past we did send our criminals to another jurisdiction to serve time. It was in those prisons that they learned how to do a better job of being more dangerous. Sending dangerous criminals to another jurisdiction sounds good on the surface, but we believe much more work needs to be done before this becomes a reality.
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