Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs Tour Central Prison

On Wednesday, Kareem Musa, the Minister of Home Affairs and Anthony Sylvester, the newly appointed Attorney General, toured the Belize Central Prison. The tour was organized as a part of the Attorney General’s plans to revamp the Criminal Justice Reform Proposal. When we asked Minister Musa about the tour he told us that there are a lot of progressive undertakings to look forward to from A.G. Sylvester.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

Kareem Musa

“The Attorney General requested to do a tour of the prison in the context of doing an entire revamping of the criminal justice reform proposal  that involves, of course, the judiciary, it involves the police department, it involves, of course, the prisons, and so he wanted to get a feel of the prison, on the ground, all the types of services that they’re providing. And it truly, truly was an enlightening experience, even for me to see the level of reform and rehabilitation that is taking place behind the prison walls, whether it is sewing by the young men, they’re sewing uniforms,  they have an excellent woodwork shop. They have a piggery; they have chickens, an entire farm back there at the prison, a very nice medical facility as well. But to just see inside how things are working, but I was able to tap into the mind of the AG a little to see where his mind is at. And he wants to even consider providing alternative sentencing, which is something that is now being practiced in UK to provide alternative sentencing for different types of very minor offenses.  I think that’s very progressive on the part of the Attorney General and we certainly have a lot of good things to look forward to with Attorney General Sylvester.”