Jamaica’s most senior judicial officials have issued a blunt, public call for comprehensive modernization of the country’s crumbling courthouses, warning that outdated infrastructure is crippling the delivery of justice and holding back a new generation of legal professionals.
Appeals Court President Marva McDonald-Bishop laid out the case for reform during a swearing-in ceremony for eight newly elevated senior judicial officers at King’s House on Thursday, using a well-known biblical metaphor to frame the crisis. Drawing from Matthew 9:17 — the passage that states new wine cannot be poured into old, inflexible wineskins without both being ruined — she argued the metaphor perfectly describes Jamaica’s current justice system.
“New transformative ideas cannot survive in rigid, outdated structures without intentional renewal,” McDonald-Bishop told the assembled crowd. “These newly appointed judges are that new wine, full of fresh energy and perspective — but the question remains: are they being placed into new, fit-for-purpose wineskins, or crumbling old ones?”
She went on to detail a long list of critical deficiencies across Jamaican courthouses that are stifling the productivity of the country’s legal professionals, from outdated architectural and operational designs ill-suited to modern justice delivery to inadequate, unsafe spaces for crime victims and witnesses. Even basic accommodations for jurors are lacking, she noted, with no dedicated, comfortable facilities for jurors to deliberate on cases, on top of longstanding issues with unpaid juror stipends. Most notably, the country’s push to expand virtual court hearings to increase access to justice has been held back by a near-total lack of upgraded digital and technological infrastructure across courthouses.
McDonald-Bishop specifically called out the downtown Kingston Court of Appeal building, which may appear renovated and well-maintained from the street, but hides serious internal flaws that create daily disruptions and safety risks. “It looks new on the outside, but it’s crumbling from within,” she said. “Sewage is actively seeping into the building, affecting our work every single day. Homeless individuals camping near the entrance create major security concerns, as do unregulated taxi operators who park directly on the court steps and street vendors who set up stalls along the perimeter.”
She stressed that as the world becomes increasingly digital and globalized, Jamaica’s legal community must be given functional, modern workspaces to evolve with changing global norms. Echoing the biblical metaphor, she added that inflexible, outdated structures cannot adapt to new pressures and will ultimately block systemic change. McDonald-Bishop joined Chief Justice Bryan Sykes in formally calling on national government leaders to prioritize the justice system’s infrastructure needs.
Sykes, who also addressed the swearing-in ceremony, backed up McDonald-Bishop’s concerns with a firsthand account of government inaction following last year’s Hurricane Melissa. The Category 5 storm made landfall in Jamaica in October 2024, causing widespread damage to multiple courthouses across the island, including the main court facility in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.
Sykes explained that shortly after the storm, judicial leadership met with Ministry of Justice officials to request either major renovations or full reconstruction of the damaged Savanna-la-Mar court. Five months on, however, he said the government has not issued any formal response or indication that it plans to move forward with the work.
“Can you believe that five months after a Category 5 hurricane, nothing has been done to restore or replace the main court in Savanna-la-Mar? If a storm of that scale can’t spur urgent action, what reason is there to believe anything will ever get done?” Sykes asked.
To address the gap left by government inaction, Sykes announced that the judiciary has reallocated funds from its own existing budget to carry out critical repairs at multiple court facilities across western Jamaica. The judiciary has already completed upgrades to the circuit court in Westmoreland and the family court in Trelawny, ensuring local judicial officers have safe, functional workspaces.
Sykes used the stalled Savanna-la-Mar project to make the case for broader institutional reform, arguing that the judiciary should be given greater direct control over infrastructure resources. “This is a simple division of labor: let the government build the facilities, then hand them over to the judiciary to maintain. As Hurricane Melissa has made clear, government ministries have proven to be unreliable partners in this critical work,” he said.