Thirty-two correctional officers will benefit from training scholarships totalling in excess of $1.2 million, which will equip them to deliver National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) programmes to inmates and wards in correctional facilities across the island. The scholarships were provided by the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI) under the HEART Trust/NTA’s Train-the-Trainer project. As part of the programme, two...

The Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) will be taking its outreach campaign to an exposition at the Pearson Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada, on March 25. This will be done in partnership with other government agencies, such as the Registrar General's Department (RGD) and the National Land Agency (NLA); and Jamaica National (JN). In an interview with JIS News,...

Officers from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will be getting specialised tactical training to improve security in the prisons. Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Senator the Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., said 20 officers have been selected to participate in defensive tactics, restraining, use of force, cell extraction and inmate transport drill. “This will enhance the...

The forensic capabilities of the security forces have been boosted, following the acquisition of a BULLETRAX-3D System by the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine. This system will capture digital images on the surface of bullets, match them with existing images in the police database, suggest potential matches with other bullets and strengthen the Institute’s capacity to collect information...

The police are reporting a 33 per cent decrease in the number of road fatalities since the start of the year. Statistics out of the Traffic and Highway Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) indicate that up to March 19, there have been 62 road fatalities compared with 92 for the corresponding period last year. In an interview with...

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is taking a holistic approach to rehabilitating young girls in state care at the South Camp Road Juvenile Remand and Correctional Centre in Kingston. Commissioner of Corrections, Ina Hunter, says an approximately $248-million (US$1.93-million) donation from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has enabled the facilitation of several social reintegration programmes at...

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has received US$2.5 million to expand its rehabilitation programme. The programme, ‘New Path Project’, which began at the South Camp Correctional Centre, was implemented in collaboration with Trust for the Americas, a non-profit agency of the Organization of American States (OAS). The project promotes productive alternatives for juvenile remandees and offenders in Jamaica. It...