The new Bail Act will include a provision to prevent persons from being lost in the prison system.

Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte made the disclosure recently.

The update follows several cases of prisoners being held in lock-ups for years and sometimes decades without trial for any crimes.

The matter was brought to public attention in 2020, after 81-year-old Noel Chambers died in a correctional facility after waiting for 40-years without being tried.

At the most recent Joint Select Committee on the 2022 Bail Act, committee member Fitz Jackson, sought assurances from chairperson Mrs. Malahoo Forte that there would be safeguards to prevent such re-occurrences.

Mrs. Malahoo forte noted that there was one particular provision that spoke to this issue.

She said it would allow a judge to, once every two weeks, carry out a review of cases involving defendants, who were granted bail, but were unable to take it up.

A list of those defendants would be supplied to the court, at the start of each week.