A senior High Court justice has issued a blistering rebuke of persistent systemic delays in Barbados’ judicial system, sparked by repeated late transportation of inmates from Dodds Prison to court hearings. On Tuesday morning, when Supreme Court No. 5 finally gaveled into session just before 11 a.m., Justice Pamela Beckles publicly called out the escalating problem that has thrown court scheduling into chaos for weeks.
Acting Senior State Counsel Maya Kellman confirmed the entire delay stemmed from the court waiting for the named accused to be transported from the Dodds correctional facility to the Supreme Court complex. In unusually pointed public comments from the bench, Justice Beckles emphasized this issue is not an isolated oversight, but a growing crisis that has disrupted court work across the island’s judicial facilities for an extended period.
She outlined the steady worsening of the delays: what once was a manageable 10-minute wait has stretched to 30 minutes, and on Tuesday, stretched past an hour after court staff and all other parties had arrived by 9:30 a.m. Justice Beckles added that the logjam is not limited to her courtroom, noting that other courtrooms across the judicial complex were also held up, with some having not yet received their scheduled inmates as of 11 a.m.
Calling the ongoing disruption unacceptable, Justice Beckles appealed to the senior authorities responsible for prison transportation and inter-agency coordination to intervene immediately to fix the broken system. She expressed hope that bringing public attention to the crisis will push the relevant decision-makers to implement the changes needed to restore timely court proceedings for all parties.