Jamaica's Adult Prison Population Climbs to 3,563 After 575 New Admissions in 2025 — PIOJ

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Some 575 people were sentenced and taken into custody last year, pushing the number of adults behind bars in Jamaica to 3,563, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has reported.

The figures appear in the 2025 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica. Of the newly sentenced group, 271 were sent to the maximum-security St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre.

“Sentencing patterns showed a concentration among younger adults, with the majority of admissions falling within the 18–30 year age group,” the PIOJ said. The agency listed murder, robbery with aggravation and firearms-related crimes as the leading offences behind the admissions. More than half of those taken in — 52.7 per cent — were classified as unskilled.

Overall, the head count across adult institutions barely shifted, moving to 3,563 from 3,511 a year earlier.

Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston, a maximum-security facility, again held more inmates than any other institution, with 1,593 on its rolls. That was down from the 1,727 counted in 2024. The St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre held 850 inmates last year, a reduction from 883.

The trend ran the other way at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston, where the population climbed to 740 from 632.

Smaller institutions also recorded movement, according to the PIOJ. Tamarind Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Catherine held 162 inmates, well above the 70 recorded in 2024, while Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre ended the year with 77, one fewer than the 78 logged previously.

Juvenile facilities were virtually unchanged, holding 178 young people under the age of 18 compared with 177 in 2024. The South Camp Juvenile Correctional and Remand Centre accounted for the largest share with 73, and remained the only centre in the system that takes females.