Rising Costs

Bajan Bugle — Sunday, April 12, 2026

Good morning from Barbados. The sun is doing what it always does. The news is doing what it usually does. Let us proceed.

BARBADOS HOSTED THE CARIBBEAN PRISON REFORM WORKSHOP

Officials from 13 Caribbean countries gathered at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Bridgetown from March 25-27 to overhaul how inmates are assessed when they first enter custody. The UNDP’s PACE Justice project and the EU-backed EL PACCTO 2.0 organised the event. The goal: better intake assessments, fewer people held unnecessarily before trial, and real pathways toward rehabilitation from the first day. Representatives came from Antigua, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Trinidad, the Bahamas, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Jamaica, and Suriname. Barbados provided the venue, the chair, and — from the Probation Service’s Angela Dixon — some of the best thinking in the room. This is what regional leadership looks like when it isn’t shouting at anyone.