AS the government moves to decommission the Port of Spain Prison, civil society stakeholders are urging greater investment in rehabilitation programmes and restorative justice, instead of returning to the use of the gallows.

Their comments came after Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander announced plans to rebuild the gallows and relocate inmates from the 200-year-old facility to the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) in Arouca, as part of a four-phase plan.

Speaking to Newsday in a phone interview on September 5, Denise Pitcher, executive director of the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), said the decision to close the Port of Spain Prison could be a step in the right direction, but only if it is accompanied by genuine reform.