With crime out of control in Jamaica and scarce resources to address the problem, Minister of National Dr Horace Chang is calling on the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) to turn its attention from funding small businesses and concentrate on financing a J$10-billion prison.

This move comes five years after the British government offered to build a state-of-the-art prison for Jamaica which would have also housed Jamaican offenders who commit crimes in the United Kingdom. The project was to be funded jointly by the British government and the Jamaican government with the British putting up £25 million.

That offer was spurned with one minister saying: “After 400 years of slavery, the British Government is now offering to build Jamaica a prison.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness reasoned that the then proposed high-tech prison, which would have also accommodated some of the 600 Jamaicans incarcerated in Britain, mainly for drugs and violent crimes, would cost at least £40-million. There was a reluctance to take on a British problem and transpose it here, where crime is already costing Jamaica more than five per cent of its GDP.

Already this year, murders are up on the opening months of 2020 and, with the economy contracting due to the spread of COVID-19, lawlessness is gripping the country and demands immediate attention.

NEW PRISON TO BE LOCATED IN ST CATHERINE

This new prison, with funding found by the DBJ, is to be located in St Catherine.

At the same time the DBJ, headed by Milverton Reynolds, will now more than ever need to be at the forefront of spearheading the funding of small and medium enterprises in an effort to kick-start economic recovery.

To suspend getting businesses started and pivot to funding a prison that will cost 0.10 per cent of GDP has raised the question of whether Jamaica would have been better off accepting the UK’s offer.

Addressing the issue of the offer from the UK government, British High Commissioner to Jamaica Asif Ahmad said: “The offer never got into a negotiation phase and no details were exchanged. It would be accurate to say that a formal offer was not made and thus required no rejection as far as the UK government is concerned.

“In the absence of any substantive discussion between the two governments, the offer has now lapsed.”

It costs the UK around £36, 000 a year to keep a Jamaican in one of its prisons and this may be a reason behind repatriating them to Jamaica – a cost saving on the national purse.

MANY PRISONS BUILT IN 18TH CENTURY

Nevertheless, the British Government is cognizant of Jamaica’s long-standing problems with its prison system.

Many of the prisons were built in the 18th Century with inmates enduring inhumane conditions. There is a need for more modern facilities that employ up-to-date technology and address recidivism.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust in the UK, writing in Foreign Policy opined: “If a choice could be made, it might be better to spend overseas aid in supporting Jamaica to get to grips with poverty, drug addiction and drug-related offending.”

In November last year, the British government made a gift of £620,000 to help Jamaica’s correctional and prison facilities.