Outcomes - Selected Case Summaries
Categories
Lack of response to prisoner on categorisation, complaints
Early Resolution | 05 September 2023
Her Majesty's Cayman Islands Prison Service (HMPS)
A prisoner at one of the secure facilities in the Cayman Islands complained concerning several matters to the Ombudsman. The complaints included:
- Prisoners not being provided either Ombudsman or Human Rights Commission complaints forms at the prison facility
- A number of internal complaints made within the prisons service had not been responded to
- The prisoner’s security classification had been “upgraded” (to a more secure classification) in a decision the prisoner felt was administratively unfair
- Certain confidential prisoner data had been divulged about the prisoner
The last concern about the data privacy was referred to the Ombudsman’s Information Rights Team. The issue regarding the complaint forms was immediately resolved by working with the prisons service to ensure these complaint forms were made available to all prisoners upon request.
The remaining two matters, those of the internal complaints non-response and the prisoner’s classification were dealt with via the Ombudsman’s informal resolution process. During this process, the prisons service agreed to provide further details to the prisoner regarding the decision to reclassify them to a higher security level. This information allowed the prisoner to appeal the classification to the prison Categorisation Board. In addition, the prisons director provided the prisoner with additional details in writing about the earlier complaints that were made.
Following the dissemination of the additional information to the prisoner it was determined that all complaint matters had been resolved and that the issue was closed. As there was no formal investigation of the matter, the Ombudsman made no recommendations to the prisons service.