Monthly bill of $25,000 for each inmate
By Darcel Choy (Newsday).
THERE are 3,667 persons incarcerated in this country, with each prisoner costing the State between $20,000 to $25,000 per month.
Attorney General Faris Al Rawi disclosed this yesterday during the first public consultation forum on prison reform at City Hall, Port-of-Spain.
He said the estimated cost of each prison in 2015 was $597 million and this includes, electricity, manpower, water, food, transportation, health and other additional costs.
“If you take the prisons figure alone, you divide by the total physical inmate population you will get $13,271 per head, per month, but when you factor what the additional costs, some intangibles, you can easily take that figure to $20 to $25,000 per head per month,” he said.
He added, “That is a real figure to be grappled with because coming out of that comes the discussion of what are we going to do about it? And are we prepared to make some hard choices, some unpopular choices? Are we prepared to have a real discussion not based on anecdotal information, based instead on statistically driven thoughts and analysis.”
Al Rawi disclosed that of the more than 3,000 persons incarcerated, there were 2,235 people in Remand. Of that number, 42 percent are charged with murder, five percent are charged with simple possession, six percent charged with trafficking, seven percent charged with sexual offences and 13 percent charged with possession of firearms and ammunition.
Then there is a category of “other” which comprises 27 percent of the Remand population.
Under this category, Al Rawi said people are in Remand on charges of using obscene language, failure to pay maintenance, breach of traffic regulations, and malicious damage.
Of the Remand population, 11 percent have been incarcerated for more than ten years.
Nineteen percent have been incarcerated for more than five years and 70 percent have beens incarcerated for five years or less.
Al Rawi said to maintain each prisoner for more than ten years cost more than $2 million.
“There are 246 that fit that category. It has costed us $649,440,000 to hold 246 inmates for 11 years. Four hundred and twenty five persons in remand for over five years, the annual figure for one person is $1.44 million,” he said.
To address the transporting costs and the delays in the criminal justice system, Al Rawi disclosed that a court was being constructed at the Remand prison.
Al Rawi noted that there are eight prisons in the country, with many over capacity. At the Remand prison, there are 1,032 as of December last year but the capacity is 655.
“Port-of-Spain prison has a capacity of 250 people and houses 725 people, in other words, 290 percent occupancy.
Carrera has a capacity of 185, housing 201 persons therefore having a capacity of 108 percent occupancy.
The Tobago convict prison has capacity of 30 and there are 53 people there as of December last year, being 177 percent capacity,” he said.
