The Caribbean Human Rights Network has publicly urged the establishment of a detention and rehabilitation center for youths and first offenders. To reduce overcrowding, magistrates have begun to make use of alternatives to incarceration, such as community service work. The Government allows private groups to visit prisons to ascertain conditions. The Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and imprisonment and requires detainees to be brought before a court of law within 72 hours of arrest. The Government generally respects these provisions in practice.
Criminal defendants have the right to counsel, and attorneys have ready access to their clients.
The authorities do not use exile as a punishment or means of political control. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and it is free of intervention by other branches of government. The judiciary includes the Supreme Court, which consists of the high court and court of appeal. The Governor General, after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, appoints the Chief Justice. Other judges who make up the court are appointed on the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.