The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Office of the Judiciary officially launched the Bahamas Bail Management System yesterday that aids in electronic bail applications.

Chief Justice Sir Brian Moree said the system is a part of an ongoing move to implement technological solutions in the criminal justice system.

“This is a software module which automates the process of applying for and dealing with bail applications in Supreme Court through a customised e-application with a. . .web portal for lawyers and other users together with physical kiosk located in the Criminal Registry, the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, the Elizabeth Estates Police Station, the East Street Police Station, the Carmichael Road Police Station, the Grove Police Station, the Central Police Station and the main police station in Freeport,” he said.

The system was engineered by Multimedia Technologies and their partner Justice Enhancement Technologies.

Senior Justice Bernard Turner added the system gives greater access to unrepresented litigants, criminal defendants as well as great ease of access to attorneys.

“What The Bahamas Bail Management System seeks to do is to streamline the automated process for applications for bail so that whether the person charged who’s applying for bail has an attorney, his attorney may apply for bail from his office using the online portal, but even more importantly for persons who (are) remanded into custody without counsel that it provides a mechanism which that persons unrepresented. . . (are) able to approach the courts in a timely and effective fashion to apply for bail,” he explained.

“Through the use of the kiosk as the chief justice would have indicated, the kiosk located at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services to file his application he can continue to do what persons charged with criminal offences have always done, which is to write a letter to the courts. But now when that letter is written it no longer has to go through a process of being physically delivered to the court and a date being fixed. That letter is uploaded electronically to the kiosk located at the Department of Correctional Services and transmitted automatically to Criminal Registry responsible for the setting down of bail applications and that person’s application is able to be fixed before a court.”

The system aids in checking if there is compliance with the Bail Act provisions.

It reduces the burden on police stations of having to keep a book of persons signing in for bail. The kiosk would allow for a person to sign using biometric information.

In April 2017, the Christie administration announced that biometric technology for bail which would replace the archaic paper-based registration would be implemented. When asked about the delay in the system’s roll out, Justice Turner said this was to ensure that the system was up to par and secure.