Ankle tags for prisoners by year’s end

He said his ministry is now evaluating three suppliers of tagging devices and will engage a local service provider (of telecommunications).

Dillon said he wants to improve the conditions at the Remand Yard, saying first-offenders placed there may become hardened criminals who ultimately return to their communities.

“It’s not a sight you’d want to see. A 10 by 10 room built for three individuals now houses nine or 10 men.” Calling for relief from such overcrowding he said the bill is just one measure to do so, along with measures such as electronic tagging and DNA testing.

Dillon said awaiting trial for 20 years, deprived of loved ones, will harm one’s mental state and must be treated with by society. Incarceration has a serious social cost to the inmates and their families.

The Golden Grove Remand Prison holds 960 men, out of 2,000 remandees in nine institutions.

Built originally as a World War II airbase, he said the remand prison is now overcrowded.

“The cost of somebody being held in remand prison on a daily basis cost about $618 per person.

Monthly roughly $18,000-plus.

Annual cost is $225,920.” He gave data on the number of persons arrested by the police each year, as 10,986 in 2014, 10,942 in 2015, 10,679 in 2016 and so far for 2017 some 4,192 persons, many of whom end up in the Remand Prison.