ST ANN, Jamaica — Minister of National Security Robert Montague says conjugal visits, which he has proposed for prisoners, will not be open to all inmates.

Montague was responding to questions at a town hall meeting in St Ann’s Bay last evening.

He explained that conjugal visits would be an earned privilege for soon-to-be released prisoners.

Montague said that when a prisoner has less than six months left in his sentence, depending on the type of crime and his behaviour, he will be moved to a half-way facility to aid in reintegration into society. As part of reintegration efforts conjugal visits will be granted to the prisoner.

“It will be a privilege; it is not a free for all…it will be a privilege and you will have to earn the privilege,” Montague declared.

He also highlighted government’s five-pillar crime reduction strategy at the meeting on Thursday.

The pillars include effective policing, swift and sure justice, crime prevention through social development, situational crime prevention and rehabilitation and crime redemption.

Renae Dixon