A multi-million-dollar plan is under way to convert the Government Industrial School (GIS) into a modern juvenile detention centre, as its principal called for major investment to bring the institution in line with the 2024 Child Justice Act.

Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls announced the plans on the second day of the Barbados Probation Service ‘Modern Perspectives on Sentencing and Penal Reform’ symposium, during a panel titled ‘The Child Justice Act: Readiness and Requirements’.

Principal Seilest Bradshaw told the audience gathered at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre that for the 2024 law to have a meaningful impact, greater resources must be directed to the GIS.