Additionally, the the legislation was reverted to Cabinet, and then the House of Assembly because some parts are deemed unconstitutional.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Development (PSHSD) Petrona Davies during her appearance before Standing Finance Committee (SFC) stated that the Ministry of Health and Social Development was advised that the Attorney General pointed out areas of the Act that needs to be amended before it could be assented. Therefore, it was mentioned that the Act will be return to Cabinet and the House for amendments.

and aimed to modernize the Territory’s legal framework as it relates to the prison’s management and the custody and rehabilitation of prisoners was not accented to by His Excellency Governor Augustus Jaspert.

In response to questions from legislators about the part of the Act that had the issue the Permanent Secretary said that she did not have the information available as she was awaiting details from the Governor’s Office on the specific area with concerns.

In October 2018, the House of Assembly passed the Act which repealed and replaced the Prison Ordinance (Cap. 166) which was over 60 years old. The new legislation takes into account modern rehabilitation and corrective practices.

Red Flags

When the Bill was debated in the House of Assembly former Minister for Health and Social Development Hon. Ronnie Skelton expressed concern that guard dogs were suggested as a security measure at Her Majesty’s prison.

“I just look at some of these dreadful things that I see on television where they use dogs to really hurt people and they call it ‘appropriate force’. I think we need to ensure that there are some specific you can use the dogs in the law,” the former Health Minister said at the time.

Additionally, the former Minister said that he was uncomfortable about the suggestion that prisoners could be asked for blood, urine, and other biometric data. This he said can include semen sample, and that Hon. Skelton said is going too far: “I think when you go as far as to say ‘semen’, I think you’re really going too far and that needs some court order or something. I think that’s a step too far,” he declared.