Jamaica successfully avoided a large COVID-19 outbreak during the initial months of the pandemic. However, since late August 2020, the numbers of confirmed infections have surged, increasing the total number of cases to nearly 8,000 by October 2020. The government announced emergency measures in September, including curfews and limits to the size of public gatherings. […]
Last updated:
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?
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Non-Immigration-Status-Related Grounds in Immigration Legislation
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
Children & Other Vulnerable Groups
LENGTH OF DETENTION
Maximum Length of Incarceration for Immigration-Related Criminal Conviction
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
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2008
2008
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2003
2003
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2003
2003
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 12/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Treaty Body
Committee on Migrant Workers
Recommendation Year
2025
Recommendation Excerpt
44. The Committee recommends the State party: (a) Adopt measures, including legislative measures, to phase out, and ultimately put an end to, immigration detention; and enact a presumption in law against detention and therefore in favour of freedom; (b) Immediately cease migration detention of children, whether unaccompanied, separated from their parents, or together with their families, and of other vulnerable groups of migrant workers and members of their families as well as asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; c) Ensure that: (i) In all other cases, the detention of migrants is an exceptional measure of last resort, pursuing a legitimate end, permitted by law, and that it is necessary and proportionate, and applied for the shortest possible period of time; (ii) The grounds for detention are specified in each case, with specific reasons why alternative measures cannot be implemented; (iv) In line with its human rights obligations, alternative measures to detention are considered and made use of before imposing detention measures. The Committee recognizes alternatives to detention as being all community-based care measures or non-custodial accommodation solutions – in law, policy or practice – that are less restrictive than detention and which must be considered in the context of lawful detention decision procedures to ensure that detention is necessary and proportionate in all cases, with the aim of respecting the human rights and avoiding the arbitrary detention of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; (d) Ensure that alternative measures to detention are applied to asylum seekers and refugees, and in all cases of voluntary return, and that migrant workers and members of their families are informed of their rights and about procedures in the detention context in a language they understand; (e) Strictly separate detention regimes from “voluntary” placement in shelters, including in statutory law, and provide for State-run or community-run shelters, which are physically separated from an immigration detention centre and are not situated on the same premises. ...
(45) ... (a) Ensure that migrants are detained only in facilities officially designated
for this purpose;
(45) ... (a) Ensure that migrants are detained only in facilities officially designated
for this purpose;
Sources
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, "Concluding observations on the combined initial and second periodic reports of Jamaica", 17 April 2025, United Nations General Assembly, paragraph (44 to 45), https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2830&Lang=en
Treaty Body
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Recommendation Year
2022
Recommendation Excerpt
Situation of non-citizens, including migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons
25...While noting the information provided by the delegation of the State party that the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and the Aliens Act are currently under review, the Committee shares the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families10 that these acts, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, criminalize irregular immigration
(art. 5).
26...The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to decriminalize irregular immigration, including by repealing or amending the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, the Aliens Act, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to the recommendation made on this matter by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families in 2017.11
25...While noting the information provided by the delegation of the State party that the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and the Aliens Act are currently under review, the Committee shares the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families10 that these acts, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, criminalize irregular immigration
(art. 5).
26...The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to decriminalize irregular immigration, including by repealing or amending the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, the Aliens Act, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to the recommendation made on this matter by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families in 2017.11
Sources
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding observations on the combined twenty-first to twenty-fourth periodic reports of Jamaica," 01 December 2022, United Nations General Assembly, (paragraphs 25 and 26), https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/document/ee46a14a-3174-45e1-9a30-542875eec225
Treaty Body
Committee on Migrant Workers
Recommendation Year
2017
Recommendation Excerpt
§ 37. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that its national laws, policies and practices adequately respect the right to liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary detention of migrant workers and members of their families, and in particular that it:
(a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families;
(b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters;
(c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians;
(d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention;
(e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.
(a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families;
(b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters;
(c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians;
(d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention;
(e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.
Sources
IOCMW, "Concluding observations on Jamaica in the absence of a report," May 23, 2017, http://uhri.ohchr.org/document/index/72C81C97-E4B1-4BDA-9C14-5017E5DD85D3
Global Detention Project and Partner Submissions to Treaty Bodies
Treaty Body
Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)
Session Date
7 April 2025
Session Information
40th Session
Submission Type
State Report
Recommendation Impact
Yes
Discussion of Impact
The Committee incorporated the submission's core concerns, including the need to adopt legislative measures to phase out the use of immigration detention (43(a)), to ensure due process (43(f)), and to ensure that migrants are only detained in facilities specifically designed for immigration-related detention (45(a)). On top of this, the committee also called on Jamaica to ensure that no child, or any other vulnerable individual, is detained for reasons related to their migration status (43(b)).
Sources
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, "Concluding observations on the combined initial and second periodic reports of Jamaica," 15 May 2025, https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=fKWl9guikOyoP1H0As1WhmhMqHxy8JBzWo6GounbKfs181V5axHevh0FGEI3ty%2BB1IDKqJZ7MNscbUcA%2B1J%2BXA%3D%3D
Global Detention Project, "Oral Presentation to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers," 7 April 2025, https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/jamaica-oral-presentation-to-the-un-committee-on-migrant-workers
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Recommendation Issued
Yes
Year Issued
2025
UPR Cycle
4th
Recommendation Excerpt
66..........UNHCR recommended that Jamaica discontinue pre-removal
administrative detention for Haitians, considering the UNHCR non-return advisory and the
guidelines contained in the International Protection Considerations for Persons Fleeing
Haiti. 67. UNHCR reported that persons who might be in need of international protection had
been detained for extended periods in reportedly difficult conditions. Reports indicated
overcrowding, inadequate medical care and limited access to legal assistance in detention
centres, raising concerns about compliance with the principle of non-penalization under
international refugee law and the provisions of the 2009 Refugee Policy.
68…..UNHCR recommended that Jamaica introduce and implement alternatives to immigration detention in law and practice, ensuring that detention was used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible duration, in line with international standards and the UNHCR Detention Guidelines. It also recommended that Jamaica review and establish clear limits on the limited reasons for use of detention of asylum-seekers, both in law and in practice, to prevent arbitrary detention…….
administrative detention for Haitians, considering the UNHCR non-return advisory and the
guidelines contained in the International Protection Considerations for Persons Fleeing
Haiti. 67. UNHCR reported that persons who might be in need of international protection had
been detained for extended periods in reportedly difficult conditions. Reports indicated
overcrowding, inadequate medical care and limited access to legal assistance in detention
centres, raising concerns about compliance with the principle of non-penalization under
international refugee law and the provisions of the 2009 Refugee Policy.
68…..UNHCR recommended that Jamaica introduce and implement alternatives to immigration detention in law and practice, ensuring that detention was used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible duration, in line with international standards and the UNHCR Detention Guidelines. It also recommended that Jamaica review and establish clear limits on the limited reasons for use of detention of asylum-seekers, both in law and in practice, to prevent arbitrary detention…….
Sources
Human Rights Council, "Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Jamaica," 14 November 2025, Fiftieth session, 4th Cycle United nations General Assembly, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/WG.6/50/JAM/2
Recommendation Issued
Yes
Year Issued
2020
UPR Cycle
3rd
Recommendation Excerpt
107.41 Take measures to decrease detention of children and migrants and to reduce prison overcrowding (Sierra Leone);
Sources
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, "Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Jamaica, 3rd Cycle, Session 36", United Nations, 13 November 2020, https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/document/8096d369-64db-4a57-bcd3-f0609d41a8b9
Recommendation Issued
No
Year Issued
2011
Sources
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review* Jamaica, A/HRC/16/14, 4 January 2011 https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/jamaica/session_9_-_november_2010/ahrc1614jamaicae.pdf
Recommendation Issued
Yes
Year Issued
2015
Sources
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Jamaica. 20 July 2015. A/HRC/30/15.
Recommendation Issued
No
Year Issued
2020
Sources
Human Rights Council," Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Jamaica,"
A/HRC/46/18, 21 December 2020, https://uhri.ohchr.org/Document/File/8096d369-64db-4a57-bcd3-f0609d41a8b9/23918EAC-86C8-46C5-A5F5-AC37C83EFF00
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
COVID-19
Country Updates
Jamaica successfully avoided a large COVID-19 outbreak during the initial months of the pandemic. However, since late August 2020, the numbers of confirmed infections have surged, increasing the total number of cases to nearly 8,000 by October 2020. The government announced emergency measures in September, including curfews and limits to the size of public gatherings.
There does not appear to have been any particular measures taken with respect to migrants or asylum seekers in Jamaica. Although Jamaica is a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it does not have corresponding asylum legislation and there are no official mechanisms in place to assist in the identification of asylum seekers. In 2019, Jamaica only received 5 applications for international protection, according to UNHCR. And although the refugee agency reported that there were no refugees in Jamaica that year, there were 121 displaced Venezuelans in the country. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) reported that in 2019, there were 23,468 international migrants in Jamaica.
The government has been slow to implement protective measures in prisons. As of 31 August, the government was still refusing to release low-risk detainees in high-density prisons to curb the virus’ spread. In addition, authorities do not make it compulsory for people within penal institutions to wear face masks. The director of the prisoner rights group “Stand Up For Jamaica” expressed concern that scores of inmates may be vulnerable to the spread of the virus, citing the country’s long-standing problem of overcrowding in prisons. Gullotta has called for the government to release low-risk prisoners, especially juvenile offenders who have not seen their relatives in months and are prone to psychological problems. Gullotta said that her “major concern was, in a place like prisons, where people are packed up and in a permanently overcrowded environment, the fact that people can enter means a huge risk for all of them.”
The government’s decision to not impose the wearing of face masks within penal institutions was defended by Minister Matthew Samuda who said that “mask wearing is only imposed on all those who work in the facilities because it’s the people who work within the facilities who could have brought it in.” Yet, on 31 August, four detainees tested positive at the Horizon penitentiary in Kingston. The detainees were placed in isolation and the facility suspended the admission of any new detainees. Two other detainees then tested positive for the virus on 22 September at the Tower Street prison, another Kingston prison.
Although the GDP has been unable to find any information about protections provided to immigration detainees in Jamaica, there are long-standing concerns that the country does not provide appropriate conditions of detention for people in immigration procedures. In 2017, the UN Committee on Migrant workers issued a series of recommendations in its “concluding observations” during the periodic review of Jamaica. The committee stated: “The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that its national laws, policies and practices adequately respect the right to liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary detention of migrant workers and members of their families, and in particular that it: (a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families; (b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters; (c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians; (d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention; (e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.”
Government Agencies
- Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA) - https://www.pica.gov.jm/
- +1 754 7422
International Organisations
- IOM Jamaica - https://www.iom.int/countries/jamaica
- UNHCR Jamaica - http://www.unhcr.org/jamaica.html
NGO & Research Institutions
- Ombudsman
- (876)922-8653
- Contact through Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JAPoliticalOmbudsman/
Stand Up for Jamaica - https://www.standupforjamaica.org/
- Migration Policy Institute-Jamaica - https://www.migrationpolicy.org/country-resource/jamaica
