Prison Service plans major farm, fleet expansion

The Barbados Prison Service is embarking on a major expansion drive that will overhaul its agricultural operations and replace its vehicle fleet with electric models, in what its top official described as the start of a five-year modernisation plan through to 2030.

In remarks at the prison’s 168th anniversary celebrations and medals presentation ceremony at Dodds, St Philip, Superintendent of Prisons DeCarlo Payne disclosed that the prison’s farm is being significantly scaled up to boost food production.

“We have been mandated to ensure that the farm is expanded, and this is at the national level,” Payne said. “We are now producing about 2 500 chickens per batch, and our mandate has basically changed dramatically over the last few months. We are now mandated to ensure that we supply 21 000 birds per batch, and that’s just one of the expansions.”

He added that the institution had already placed the necessary funds in government estimates to support expansion across multiple areas: “As it relates to chicken rearing, as it relates to cattle, as it relates to pigs, as it relates to ground provision on the farm.”

Superintendent Payne, who has been at Dodds for more than 15 years, noted that the surge in agricultural output was unprecedented. “I can go on record… for the 15 or so years that we were here, I’ve never seen so much being produced on the farm in terms of growing provisions as well as meats.”

The superintendent also revealed that the prison is moving to fully modernise its vehicle fleet in keeping with national decarbonisation goals.

“We are also mandated to ensure that all of our vehicle fleet in terms of fossil fuel vehicles are phased out,” he said. Negotiations are under way with a local company that is currently building three electric transport vehicles specifically for inmates. “Hopefully in another couple of months those vehicles should be here.”

He said other new vehicles have also been included in the latest estimates to facilitate a full transition between now and 2030. “We were supposed to start in 2021, but as we checked we only started last year.”
On staffing, Superintendent Payne revealed that work is being done to secure approval to increase the service’s establishment.

“We are also working on a paper for submission to the Ministry of the Public Service… where we’re looking to make a request to have an additional 28 prison officer posts created… so that the staff probably moves from 372 to 400 in terms of prison officer posts.”

Superintendent Payne urged officers to continue upholding the institution’s standards as the organisation enters a period of accelerated upgrading.

“I want to take this opportunity to implore all of you to continue to work hard, remain dedicated, remain focused on the job and on the mandate,” he said.

(SB)