Ms. Saunders - 3rd from right and Ms. Andrews - 2nd from right.JPG
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Turks and Caicos Islands - The
Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety in their aim to improve the
TCI Parole Board and provide the TCI community with the security needed
when considering parole, attended a Parole Board Seminar in Miami,
Florida on November 16th and 17th 2011.
The Permanent Secretary, Ms. Saunders stated that:
“The
seminar was very informative. It highlighted many areas where we are
doing a good job here in the TCI but it also highlighted areas for
improvements and areas that require amendments to the legislation to
make the process more open and transparent.
The
Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety has already drafted a Parole
Process and Procedures Manual to standardize the parole process in the
Turks and Caicos Islands. Information gleaned from the seminar will be
incorporate into the manual to improve our processes. This is all a
part of a broader criminal justice initiative that the Ministry is
engaged in at the moment that would see a number of issues relating to
prisoners and other persons in custody become modernized.”
Ms.
Denise Saunders, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs
and Public Safety and Ms. Teresa Andrews, Administrative Officer and
Secretary to the Parole Board and the Prison Visiting Committee attended
the Parole Board Seminar on behalf of the ministry.
The
workshop was funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for Parole
Board and organized by Mr. Steve Fradley, Overseas Territories Prison
Advisors.
The
workshop looked at the role of the Parole Board, Measuring and
Assessing Risk, Preparation of Parole Board Dossiers and other reports,
Decision making, Victim and Community Involvement, Legal Representation
for applicants, Lifers, License and Supervisors , Breaches, Recall and
Appeals, Oral Hearings, Communicating Decisions and Managing responses.
Facilitators
for the workshop were Christine Glenn, Chief Commissioner of Northern
Ireland Parole Commissioners; Martha Blom-Cooper, full time member and
Director of Quality and Standards of the Parole Board of England and
Wales; Renee Collette, International Parole Consultant and Vice
President, International Section , Association of Paroling Authorities
International (APAI), Executive Vice-Chair of the Parole Board for
Canada and Chairperson, Quebec Parole Board; and Natalya O’Prey, Head of
Litigation for England and Wales.
