VIENNA, Austria--Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling today presented St. Maarten’s detention reform efforts during the international event “Advancing Penal Reform in Island Contexts: Perspectives from the Caribbean and the Pacific,” hosted in Vienna, Austria, with online participation.
Minister Tackling joined representatives from Fiji and St. Kitts and Nevis to discuss penal reform in small island contexts, focusing on the realities faced by island states with limited infrastructure, smaller pools of specialized professionals and justice systems where delays can have immediate consequences.
In her address, Minister Tackling said St. Maarten is undertaking one of the most ambitious justice reform efforts in its history. She explained that while detention reform discussions have long centered on the Pointe Blanche Prison, the challenges go beyond one facility.
“Over time, it became clear that the prison was not the problem itself,” Minister Tackling said. “The challenges involved policy, staffing, rehabilitation, reintegration, institutional capacity and coordination across the entire justice chain.”
The Minister said this realization led to a shift in approach, moving detention reform from a facility-based issue to a system-wide responsibility. She explained that St. Maarten’s Detention Sector Reform Program, DSRP, launched in October 2025, now serves as the national framework through which detention reform efforts are coordinated.
According to Tackling, the DSRP brings together reforms from pre-trial detention through post-detention, creating one reform agenda instead of isolated initiatives. She stressed that while St. Maarten is receiving support from international partners, the reform remains locally owned.
“This is reform that is by St. Maarten,” the Minister said. “While we are being supported by international partners, the priorities, decisions and long-term outcomes remain grounded in our local context and needs.”
Minister Tackling highlighted the role of the United Nations Office for Project Services, UNOPS, which is leading the design and construction of the new prison facility, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, which is supporting key elements of operational reform, staff development, prisoner education, rehabilitation and reintegration.
She said St. Maarten chose not to wait for the new prison to be completed before starting reforms. Instead, construction and reform are being advanced at the same time.
“This approach allows us to use the construction period not simply to build a facility, but to make meaningful progress across the detention sector as a whole,” Tackling said.
The Minister also outlined the specific challenges of carrying out prison reform in a small island setting. The new facility is being constructed while the existing prison remains operational, because St. Maarten does not have another correctional facility available. Once the first phase is completed, prisoners may be relocated into that section so that the existing structure can be demolished and the second phase completed.
She said the new facility is also being designed to accommodate different categories of detainees within one correctional complex, including vulnerable persons and persons requiring some form of mental health support. This is necessary because, unlike larger jurisdictions, St. Maarten cannot operate multiple separate facilities.
Tackling also noted that the site itself presents challenges, as it is located on a hillside overlooking the sea, near a residential community and within a hurricane-prone region. As a result, the design includes hurricane resilience, seismic reinforcement and other safety measures to support operational continuity.
The Minister said the reform represents an investment of more than US $52 million by the Governments of St. Maarten and the Netherlands. She also addressed the need to change public perception around detention, especially in societies where punishment is often more readily understood than rehabilitation.
“Rehabilitation and public safety are not competing goals. They are connected,” Minister Tackling said. “If we want safer communities, fewer victims and lower rates of reoffending, then we must invest in creating opportunities for those who at some point return to our communities.”
Minister Tackling emphasized that infrastructure alone will not create a functioning correctional system. She said work is also underway on a new prison operations manual, staffing models, recruitment and transition planning, education and vocational opportunities, reintegration pathways, and engagement with the community and private sector.
She also pointed to the changing role of correctional officers, saying they must increasingly be viewed not only as providers of security, but also as professionals who can support rehabilitation and positive behavioral change.
The Minister said St. Maarten is also working to strengthen probation services, advance alternatives to incarceration and engage community organizations involved in prevention and youth development.
“A prison is only one part of a much larger public safety ecosystem,” Tackling said. “If we want better outcomes, we must pay attention not only to what happens during detention, but also to the factors that influence people before they enter the system and after they leave it.”
Minister Tackling said St. Maarten’s reform journey offers several lessons for small island states. These include the need for reforms that reflect local realities, the importance of treating infrastructure as an enabler for wider change, the value of partnerships, the importance of community engagement and the understanding that public safety extends beyond prison walls.
She concluded by saying that detention reform is ultimately about people, institutions and the kind of society St. Maarten wants to build.
“We hope to demonstrate that even small island states operating with limited resources and unique constraints can pursue ambitious reforms that reflect their reality,” Minister Tackling said.
The event featured Minister Tackling representing St. Maarten, Auta Moceisuva, Acting Commissioner of Corrections for Fiji, and Garth Lucien Wilkin, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs for St. Kitts and Nevis.
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