Electronic tags, parole coming, says Abrahams

Electronic monitoring tags for criminal offenders and a parole system are set to be introduced this year, Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams has revealed.

The Probation Department and Barbados Prison Service are working to bring the two systems on board, which in turn would facilitate early release of eligible prisoners under state guidelines, Abrahams told the Public Affairs Department, the government’s public relations unit, in a television interview that aired Sunday.

“We are looking this year at instituting electronic monitoring. We do not want to have people locked up who do not need to be locked up. As far as I am concerned, nobody should be in state care who does not need to be in state care,” he said.

“If it is that we don’t trust you to stay home or stay away from bad influences, and that is the reason you have to be at Dodds, then can we give you an ankle bracelet and monitor where you go, and then have you at home in a more supportive environment?”

A parole system would reintegrate model inmates back into society after they have served their time, Abrahams predicted.

“I am actually excited at the prospects of the electronic monitoring [and] parole,” he said. “There are people who are in prison because they have to serve out a certain amount of their sentence, and even when you have a model prisoner, besides the usual discounts, if somebody has turned their life around, if somebody has gotten certificates while in prison.

“We need to have some system that allows not just an early release but if even you think that they still need some structure, that we can keep you under the guidance of the prison authorities or supervisory board or something, but allow you to go out and function.

The national security minister added: “The whole mindset has changed from punishing people – that every crime and conviction must be met with punishment – to what is the best way to deal with this person that allows them to become a constructive contributing member of society and allows society itself to benefit from their reintegration.” (SB)