Minister for District Administration and Home Affairs, the Hon. Nickolas DaCosta, JP, MP, has reaffirmed the Cayman Islands Government's commitment to effective offender rehabilitation, regional criminal justice cooperation and safer communities following the 3rd Annual Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole (CAPP) Conference in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Minister DaCosta led a Cayman Islands delegation that engaged with regional leaders and criminal justice professionals on strengthening probation, rehabilitation, community supervision and successful reintegration.
The conference was held under the theme "Leveraging Probation, Parole and Rehabilitation as Effective Crime-Reduction Strategies in the Caribbean". The programme examined how effective supervision, rehabilitation and reintegration can reduce reoffending and strengthen public safety across the region.
During the Regional Leaders Panel Discussion on 2 September, Minister DaCosta joined the Hon. Shellya Rogers-Webster of Anguilla; Councillor Ackel Franklyn of Tobago; and the Hon. Shaun D. Malcolm of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The panel examined national crime-reduction strategies, opportunities for regional cooperation, and the long-term development of CAPP.
Minister DaCosta outlined the Cayman Islands' work to strengthen the full offender-management pathway, including closer joint case management between His Majesty's Cayman Islands Prison Service (HMCIPS) and the Department of Community Rehabilitation (DCR), structured release and reintegration, ongoing modernisation of relevant legislation and policy, and coordinated management of the highest-risk cases through Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).
"Public protection does not begin and end at the prison gate. Our focus is on making the whole system around the individual work together – from custody and rehabilitation through structured release, community supervision and successful reintegration," Minister DaCosta said. The Minister emphasised that “effective rehabilitation is not separate from public safety: reducing reoffending means fewer future victims, less pressure on the criminal justice system and safer communities”.
Acting Director for the Department of Community Rehabilitation, Melissa Rivas, also joined regional leaders from Montserrat, St. Maarten, and the United Nations Development Programme, to discuss the existing landscape and advancements in probation and parole across the respective jurisdictions.
Acting Director Rivas noted, “It was an opportunity to demonstrate best-practices and relevant solutions that reflect our Caribbean realities, while learning from the depth of experience and expertise of our counterparts”.
Conference sessions examined evidence-based approaches to case planning and community supervision, youth and family engagement, alternatives to incarceration, trauma-informed practice, parole systems, justice-sector data, gun violence reduction and successful reintegration. The Minister also emphasised the importance of measuring whether programmes and supervision strategies are reducing risk, reoffending, and harm.
The Cayman Islands delegation identified opportunities for continued regional collaboration on professional standards, Caribbean-specific evidence, specialist training, outcome measurement, and lawful cross-border information sharing. The engagements also provided practical examples of structured community supervision and custody-to-community continuity that can inform ongoing work in the Cayman Islands.
"No jurisdiction has all the answers, and no jurisdiction needs to develop every answer alone," Minister DaCosta said. He continued, "By sharing evidence and expertise and remaining focused on outcomes, we can build stronger probation and rehabilitation systems and safer communities across the region."
Following the conference, the Ministry of District Administration and Home Affairs and the Department of Community Rehabilitation will assess the approaches most relevant to the Cayman Islands, particularly in relation to custody-to-community continuity, risk management, outcome measurement, professional development and strengthened regional cooperation. The Ministry will also continue engaging with CAPP and regional partners to translate shared expertise and evidence into practical improvements in Cayman’s offender-management system.
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