State minister in the ministry, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, has requested that an assessment be conducted of all inmates in these facilities to determine whether some could be transferred to low-security institutions.

"The medium- and the low-risk institutions, they have capacity. When you look at the inmate load of all of the various institutions, you find that the only ones that are really overcrowded are the maximum security," he told JIS News recently.

Bartlett said close to 1,200 inmates are housed at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, which has a capacity of 800.

The Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, which houses some 1,500 inmates, has a capacity of 850.