On July 3, 2026, a damning posthumous final report from retired former Belize Ombudsman Major Gilbert Swaso has brought critical systemic failures at Belize Central Prison to public attention, centered on a 2025 shooting that left an inmate permanently disabled. The incident in question occurred in August 2025, when inmate Nyere Parchue attempted to escape the facility. Prison officers opened fire on Parchue during the attempt, resulting in a permanent spinal injury that left him paralyzed. After a two-month investigation launched immediately after the shooting, Swaso’s team has confirmed that the force used by officers far exceeded what was legally and ethically justified. Prison officials have long justified the use of lethal force against escaping inmates under Section 39 of the Belize Central Prison Act, which the institution claims codifies a right to use deadly gunfire in escape scenarios. Swaso acknowledged that this statutory allowance exists on paper, but emphasized that the law must be interpreted to require lethal force only as a last resort when no other options are available. In this specific case, the investigation found that multiple non-lethal resources and alternative intervention strategies were available to responding officers at the time of Parchue’s escape attempt. As such, the lethal gunfire used was disproportionate to the threat and could have been entirely avoided, the report concluded. Beyond the excessive use of force, the investigation also uncovered deep, systemic gaps across three critical areas of prison operations: inadequate protocols for use of force, delayed and uncoordinated emergency medical response for injured inmates, and a complete lack of effective internal oversight over guard conduct. To address these failures, the report puts forward three core recommendations: expanded, regular training for prison personnel on proportional use of force, widespread deployment of non-lethal weapons for response to incidents like escape attempts, and the implementation of stronger accountability mechanisms to penalize unjustified use of force. Despite the clear findings and actionable recommendations published nearly a year after the incident, key questions about reform and accountability remain unresolved as of the 2026 report release. The most pressing barrier to follow-through is the fact that the Office of the Ombudsman, the only body legally empowered to launch, oversee, and enforce investigations into institutional misconduct, has been completely vacant since December 2025. Under the current Ombudsman Act, only the sitting Ombudsman has the legal authority to initiate, continue, or conclude investigations into complaints. Ombudsman office staff can only receive and log complaints, with no power to advance investigations or push for response from state institutions. Swaso, who left office at the end of 2025, confirmed that even if the prison has submitted a response to his final report, sitting staff lack the authority to act on it, leaving the entire reform process in limbo. This transcript is adapted from an evening television news broadcast original to the outlet.