On 24 July 2022, 17 Haitian migrants, including a child, were found dead while 25 others were rescued at sea after their ship sank off the coast of the Bahamas. It is believed that the speedboat capsized in rough seas while heading towards Miami with up to 60 people on board. Two people were arrested […]
Bahamas: Covid-19 and Detention
The Bahamas operates one dedicated immigration detention centre, the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, which has been repeatedly criticised for having appalling conditions. In early June, a protest broke out in the centre following a hunger strike, with some detainees attempting to escape. Tensions at the facility have reportedly been increasing as Covid-19 slowed deportation and […]
Last updated: November 2023
DETENTION STATISTICS
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2018
2018
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2008
2008
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2008
2008
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 12/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
§44. [...] the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Adopt specific legislation, incorporating a gender dimension, that governs refugee and asylum-seeking processes;
(b) Apply a gender-sensitive approach to receiving asylum-seeking women and considering asylum claims in order to ensure that such women are protected from exploitation and abuse while in custody and have access to appropriate health-care and other services;
(c) Take less coercive alternative measures when addressing women seeking asylum or refugee status or who have entered the country irregularly , and their children, and use detention only as a last resort;
(d) Take measures to improve the social and economic situation of refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women and women of Haitian descent in order to eliminate their vulnerability to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence, including domestic violence, and provide them with access to basic services, regardless of their immigration status;
(e) Ensure that a gender-sensitive approach is applied to the asylum claims of women and girls and provide refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant women with free legal counselling on the procedures available for obtaining legal status in the State party and doc uments relating to nationality.
2018
2018
2018
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
§30 (d) Ensure that refugees and asylum seekers, in particular women and girls, are not penalized for illegal entry and stay in the country, that detention of asylum seekers is used only as a last resort , where necessary and for as short a period as possible, and that safeguards against refoulement are fully implemented; improve the conditions in detention faci lities for women asylum seekers in accordance with international standards; and ensure the provision of adequate health facilities and services, in particular for pregnant women.
2012
2012
2012
Global Detention Project and Partner Submissions to Treaty Bodies
Session date
23 June 2025
Treaty Body
Human Rights Committee (CCPR)
Date of Submission
2025
Submission partners
Centre for Migration Observation and Social Development in the Caribbean (OBMICA),
Session Information
144th Session
Submission type
List of Issues Prior to Reporting
Recommendation Impact
Pending
Observation Date
2025
> UN Special Procedures
Relevant Recommendations or Observations by UN Special Procedures
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
§21. The Bahamas is located in a complex migratory environment and exposed to substantial irregular migration flows. In 2009, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 undocumented Haitians were living in the Bahamas.[1] The Immigration Act of 1967 contains provisions on the entry, residence, transit, and exit of migrants, and also criminalizes violations related to immigration status. Immigration officers have the authority to detain anyone refused entry pending removal from the country (sect. 25, para. 4). Any foreign national apprehended in the country after having irregularly crossed the Bahamian borders is subject to detention and removal (sect. 26).
§22. The Act stipulates that irregular migrants are liable to pay a fine of up to US$ 300 dollars and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months (sect. 19, para. 2). Irregular migrants have been detained in the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, the only dedicated immigration detention centre in the country, which is located in Nassau. At the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit the centre housed 133 detainees comprising 12 to 15 different nationalities, including several detainees from India, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti and Colombia, one from Kenya, one from Eritrea and one from Ghana, among others. The Special Rapporteur expressed concern with regard to the poor conditions and the length of detention, which do not meet international standards. The centre was obviously overcrowded, as the main section for men had a capacity of only 70 beds and one room for sanitary facilities.
23. Although no children were present in the detention centre at the time of the visit, the Special Rapporteur notes with deep concern that children have been detained with their mothers for lack of alternative facilities and measures to cater to this population of undocumented migrants and in violation of all relevant international human rights and humanitarian norms. This is all the more alarming since, according to IOM, the majority of persons entering the Bahamas are Haitian children under the age of 14.
§24. Some of the migrants informed the Special Rapporteur that they had been detained for over 12 months, one of them for several years. The authorities justified the lengthy detention of certain individuals as a result of challenges in communicating with certain countries of origin to receive identification and travel documents in order to proceed with the removal process; but also mentioned complications in obtaining transit visas for those whose return travel itineraries transit through several countries.
§25. According to the testimony of the Dominican women who were detained at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit, immigration officers found them blindfolded in a house in the island of Grand Bahama, where their smugglers had abandoned them after telling them they had reached the United States. They were immediately brought before a judge and sentenced to pay a US$ 300 fine for the offence of irregular entry, without ever being properly screened to determine whether they had been trafficked. It is only when they reached the undocumented migrants detention centre in Nassau that they finally received medical screening. That testifies to the poor implementation of screenings to identify victims of trafficking, and to detect persons in need of humanitarian protection. Despite the fact that one of the women was three months pregnant she remained in detention awaiting the execution of the removal order.
§28. The Special Rapporteur received information that the Government of the Bahamas has started to consider alternatives to detention for refugees, asylum seekers and, on certain occasions, for migrants, based on humanitarian grounds. The Government also took steps in 2012 to provide permanent residency for several long-term recognized refugees, most of Cuban and Haitian origin. Those initiatives are welcomed and should be extended to all persons in need of international protection.
§80. ...the country lacks a comprehensive assessment of the trends and scope of trafficking, and victims are rarely identified or referred to assistance programmes. The restrictive immigration policy leading to the Government’s rapid deportation of migrants, who arrive mainly by boat, especially from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, informed by existing memorandums of understanding with the countries involved, may lead to the arrest, detention and deportation of potential victims of trafficking without providing the opportunity for identification and assistance. The Special Rapporteur’s fears are heightened by the fact that there is a capacity gap in terms of ability for quick and accurate identification of victims of trafficking.
§89. With respect to support services for victims of trafficking, while the Special Rapporteur acknowledges the efforts made to develop a plan to assist victims of trafficking, she notes that the guidelines remain general, and recommends that the Government:
... (c) Make provision for appropriate support, including the establishment of separate shelters for child victims of trafficking and adults. Shelters should also be made available outside the capital city;
2014
2014
2014
Global Detention Project and Partner Submissions to UN Special Procedures
Date of Submission
2023
UN Special Procedure
Working Group on arbitrary detention
Submission Partners
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Centre for Migration Observation and Social Development in the Caribbean (OBMICA)
Submission Impact
Partially
Discussion of impact
The Working Group raised several concerns noted in this submission: the fact that the 1967 Immigration Act provides criminal penalties for migration-related infractions; the difficulties detainees face in challenging their detention; and the use of racial profiling in immigration control activities. However, key issues such as children's vulnerability to detention, and the need for strict detention limits and to ensure that no-one is stranded in limitless detention were not raised by the Working Group.
Recommendation Year
2023
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
Yes
122.218 Implement alternative measures to the detention of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, and ensure that any measure restricting their freedom of movement is only used as a measure of last resort, for the shortest possible time and under appropriate conditions (Uruguay);...
122.220 Improve the treatment of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants, including by ensuring due process before detention or deportation (Canada);....
122.221 Guarantee the protection of migrants and asylum-seekers, their access to health and education and observe the principle of non-refoulement (Mexico);.....
2023
4th
2023
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
On 24 July 2022, 17 Haitian migrants, including a child, were found dead while 25 others were rescued at sea after their ship sank off the coast of the Bahamas. It is believed that the speedboat capsized in rough seas while heading towards Miami with up to 60 people on board. Two people were arrested and taken into custody on smuggling charges. The Bahamas Immigration Minister said that the migrants had paid between 3000-8000 USD for the voyage.
There has been an uptick in apprehensions and deaths near the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean and near Florida in recent months as migrants and asylum seekers, mainly from Cuba and Haiti, attempt risky journeys to reach the United States. Previously, in January 2022, 118 Haitian nationals including 95 men, 21 women and two children, were spotted in Bahamian waters and were later apprehended by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
The Bahamas operates one dedicated immigration detention facility, the Carmichael Road Detention Centre (see 23 August 2020 Bahamas update on this platform). According to section 25(4) of the Immigration Act, “A person to whom leave to land is refused may be detained, under the authority of an Immigration Officer, pending the giving of directions in his case under paragraph (1) of this section and pending his removal in pursuance of directions so given; and where any such person is on board a ship or aircraft he may, under the like authority, be removed therefrom for such detention under this subsection.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bahamas did not restrict deportations. In June 2022, 13 Cuban migrants were intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard officials. 12 adult males and one female were handed over to Bahamas Immigration officials at the Lucayan harbour. The migrants were charged with illegal landing at the Magistrates Court and were subsequently flown to New Providence to be detained pending deportation to Cuba.
While the country's authorities have adopted certain measures against COVID-19 at the Carmichael Detention Centre, such as COVID-19 testing and the suspension of visits, the GDP has been unable to verify whether detainees were provided with vaccination against COVID-19, masks or personal hygiene supplies.
The Bahamas operates one dedicated immigration detention centre, the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, which has been repeatedly criticised for having appalling conditions. In early June, a protest broke out in the centre following a hunger strike, with some detainees attempting to escape. Tensions at the facility have reportedly been increasing as Covid-19 slowed deportation and repatriation procedures. From 4 to 19 August, the country was in total lockdown due to a surge in Covid-19 cases following the reopening of borders. The organisation RIGHTS Bahamas called for a better treatment of the migrants at the centre. In late July, there were reports that a military base on Ragged Island was being used to detain Haitians migrants intercepted at sea, leading to protests among detainees.
Government Agencies
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas Government Portal - https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/
Department of Immigration, Bahamas - https://www.immigration.gov.bs/
International Organisations
UNHCR Bahamas Office - https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/bahamas
IOM Bahamas Office - https://www.iom.int/countries/bahamas
ILO Bahamas Office - https://www.ilo.org/regions-and-countries/latin-america-and-caribbean/caribbean/bahamas
NGO & Research Institutions
OBMICA - https://obmica.org/
College of the Bahamas - https://www.ub.edu.bs/
Associate VP for External Affairs - https://www.ub.edu.bs/ub-north/ub-north-directory/
Ombudsman Office - https://www.ub.edu.bs/ombudsman/
