Joe Issa Reveals New Strategy to Reduce Crime: Build More Prisons!

Thinker in business as well as in civic life, Member of the Past Presidents Advisory Committee of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce Joe Issa, has revealed his latest thoughts on how to reduce crime in Jamaica: build more prisons and the more, the merrier.

“It has always been my view that while we are tackling the crime problem from outside the prison walls, we should be doing the same from within it, starting with having separate prisons for first-time offenders, not only so that they do not become further corrupted by seasoned prisoners, but also by one another through separation, and that applies to both male and female prisons,” says Issa, founder of the Cool Group of companies.

He argues also, that by having more prisons for first-time offenders, they can be more easily segregated based on age and nature of the crime, from non-violent to murder “as we do not want to have a non-violent criminal mixing with a murderer, even if a first-time offender.”

“I believe that with separate prisons for first-time offenders, and greater separation of the ‘sheep from the wolf’, it would be easier to rehabilitate them and make for a smoother transition back to life without walls, as I also believe that prisons are potentially breeding grounds for criminals and we have to save as many of the first timers as we can from returning, this time, to the big bad prisons, where anything happens at any time.

“What we need to do is to look at the crime data and determine, with limited resources, the minimum number of categories of prisoners necessary to achieve optimal separation and thus, corruption prevention in aid of the major rehabilitation goal, at both male and female prisons for first-time offenders,” says Issa.

Noting that it is these various categories that will inform of the number of prisons needed for first timers, he said “given the amount of prisoners in each category, we should end up with several smaller prisons, which better facilitates the goal of rehabilitation, than would one big building with everyone in it " both the good and the bad.”  

With regard to separation by age, Issa argues that “for similar crimes committed, there should be a mix of young and old as, with an elder’s counsel, the young has a better chance of recognizing the wrong in the crime committed, and it can work both ways. But I don’t think it is wise putting two offenders of about the same age in the same cell; they may not be able to counsel one another.”