Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Jamaica (Ratification: 2017)

Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(c), of the Convention. The Committee noted in its previous comments that, under section 155(2) of the Correctional Institution (Adult Correction Centre) Rules of 1991, no inmate may be employed in the service of, or for the private benefit of, any person, except with the authority of the Commissioner or in pursuance of special rules. The Committee notes, from the Government's report, that the Correctional Services Production (COSPROD) Holdings Limited, established in 1994, was created to manage the integration of the process of rehabilitation through skills training and productive utilization of the human resources in the correctional facilities. The Committee notes the Government's information that under the programme inmates work under the conditions of a freely accepted employment relation, with their formal consent and subject to guarantees regarding the payment of normal wages.

The Committee draws the Government's attention to its General Report of 1998 (particularly paragraphs 116-125), which recalls that any work exacted from any person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law is exempted from the scope of the Convention, provided it is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that such person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private parties.

The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the rules governing inmate work in the framework of COSPROD and the practice of supervision of that work under the COSPROD programme, as well as any special rules under section 155(2) of the Correctional Institution (Adult Correction Centre) Rules of 1991, particularly with respect to the creation and the role of COSPROD.