Topic: Steven Barrett

Measures to reduce COVID-19 risk at Cayman’s prisons, including isolation of new admissions and monitoring of staff temperatures, are being implemented by Her Majesty’s Cayman Islands Prison Service, according to an email from the service.

A small fire was lit Thursday evening in a cell by an inmate at the men’s prison, HMP Northward, according to a government press release. Emergency services were called and the Cayman Islands Fire Service attended the scene to confirm the fire was extinguished.

Curious tourists took photos and videos from their balconies at the Westin Grand Cayman resort as a cohort of 22 prison officer recruits stood at attention below.

Interim Prisons Director Steven Barrett said he will review Cayman’s temporary release program for lower-risk inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison, Northward, but that he was “not aware of any significant failure” in that system since his arrival in February.

After 30 years in the Scottish prisons service and another two spent running the Turks and Caicos Islands prisons, interim Cayman Islands Prison Service Director Steven Barrett offered a direct assessment of the local jail Thursday.

Cayman’s new prisons director hails from the Turks and Caicos Islands where he has served in the same position for the past two years.