Professionals, security personnel among the newly-incarcerated in 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica—Twenty professionals and 11 people in security-related jobs were among the 575 newly-incarcerated adult inmates in Jamaica in 2025.
This is according to the 2025 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica which is published each year by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).
According to the survey, of those sentenced and admitted, 271 were placed at the 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 survey found that 67 or 11.7 per cent of those newly-sentenced were skilled workers, 152 or 26.4 per cent were self-employed, 303 or 52.7 per cent were unskilled, two were students accounting for 1.9 per cent, while 20 had no occupation, making up 3.5 per cent of the new inmates.
The 20 professionals taken behind bars in 2025 also accounted for 20 per cent of the new prison population.
PIOJ said the main offences were murder, robbery with aggravation, and firearms-related crimes.
—Lynford Simpson
