The new Bail Act of 2023 is now awaiting the signature of the Governor-General before it becomes the law of the land.

On Friday, the Senate approved the legislation which imposes a fine of $1 million on anyone found guilty of removing, or otherwise tampering with a fitted electronic device. It was passed with one amendment.

The bill, which was passed in the House of Representatives in July with 20 amendments, will repeal and replace the existing Act of 2000. The new Bail law will permit a grant of bail at three stages — pre-charge, post-charge, and post-conviction in defined cases.

In piloting the bill on Friday, leader of Government Business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith, said a number of things were considered, including internationally accepted best practices, changes that have taken place in the society, and the scale and characteristics of criminal conduct in Jamaica.

Clause 8 of the bill which deals with tracking devices was the only one amendment.

The clause outlines what constitutes an offence when a defendant causes the removal of an electronic tracking device that is part of the arrangement for bail to be granted. It was expanded to state that a defendant who, without lawful excuse, removes an electronic tracking device or causes the removal of an electronic tracking device or the impairment of any function of an electronic device, contrary to a requirement imposed on that defendant, commits an offence.

Anyone found guilty of breaching this provision will, upon summary conviction before a parish court, be subjected to a fine not exceeding $1 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both the fine and imprisonment.