Belize Central Prison Recidivism Report 2009 & 2010

Belize Central Prison KOLBE FOUNDATION LIMITED _________________________________________________________________________________

A Limited- Liability, Non- Governmental, Non- Profit Belizean Company managing the Prison System for the Country of Belize www.kolbe.bz

Recidivism Report for 2009 & 2010

Recidivism in a criminal justice context is defined as the reversion of an individual to criminal behavior after he or she has been convicted of a prior offense, sentenced and presumably rehabilitated. The timing of recidivism is key not only to its measurement but to understanding the process underlying the effects of sanctions and interventions with respect to the propensity of the individual to commit crime. There are several factors which could be said to contribute tremendously to that underlining process; a few of such factors are listed as follows: 1) Failure of the individual as an inmate of a correctional institution to take advantage of the rehabilitative programs offered by the institution. 2) Failure of the individual to stay out of trouble after his release from the correctional institution. 3) Failure of the individual to avoid re-arrest and CONVICTION. 4) Failure of the individual in continuing in a criminal career after release. 5) Failure of society to provide rehabilitative and support programs and employment for individuals after their release from a correctional institution.

Recidivism can also be delineated by starting and stopping events. In this report, release from the Belize Central Prison is used as the starting point. The stopping event is the conviction and return to prison. It does not take into consideration those individuals, who have been arrested for an offence and consequently remanded, these are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law under the Belize Constitution. Only individuals who are found guilty of an offence and are committed to the Belize Central Prison are included in the calculation of this recidivism report.

The numbers presented below represent the recidivism percentages for the years 2005 to 2010 Please note that these numbers are true, actual and correct as per records kept by the Records and Processing Section of the Kolbe Foundation, Belize Central Prison.

1) Total number of convicted inmates admitted to the prison as of January 2nd 2005 to December 31st 2009. 4859. (This number reflects a count of one (1) for each inmate even if the inmate came to prison two or more times.) Of this total, 789 inmates were admitted to the prison more than once. This recidivism rate shows a percentage based on an INDIVIDUAL BASIS i.e. a repeat offender is counted only once.

789 / 4859 x 100 = 16.24%

2) Total number of convicted inmates admitted to the prison as of January 2nd 2005 to December 31st 2009. 5746. (This number reflects the actual count of each inmate for every time he returns to prison i.e., if an inmates came to prison four times during this time period, he is counted four times.) Of this total, 1484 inmates were admitted to the prison more than once. This recidivism rate shows a percentage based on a NUMBER OF ADMISSION as each inmate is counted each time he or she is admitted to the prison. 1484 / 5746 x 100 = 25.83%

3) Total number of convicted inmates admitted to the prison as of January 2nd 2005 to December 31st 2010. 5710. (This number reflects a count of one (1) for each inmate even if the inmate came to prison two or more times.) Of this total, 866 inmates were admitted to the prison more than once. This recidivism rate shows a percentage based on an INDIVIDUAL BASIS i.e. a repeat offender is counted only once.

866 / 5710 x 100 = 15.16%

4) Total number of convicted inmates admitted to the prison as of January 2nd 2005 to December 31st 2010. 6674. (This number reflects the actual count of each inmate for every time he returns to prison i.e., if an inmate came to prison four times during this time period, he is counted four times.) Of this total, 1577 inmates were admitted to the prison more than once. This recidivism rate shows a percentage based on a NUMBER OF ADMISSION as each inmate is counted each time he or she is admitted to the prison. 1577 / 6674 x 100 = 23.62%

Rehabilitation

DATED: 28th July 2011

Submitted by:

________________________ Earl Jones CEO, Kolbe Foundation Belize Central Prison www.kolbe.bz