By Breaking Belize News Staff: Six months after Breaking Belize News exposed that approximately 40 inmates at the Belize Central Prison were awaiting court-ordered psychiatric evaluations, the shortage of personnel authorized to conduct those assessments remains unresolved, with the Kolbe Foundation now confirming that it has been paying private psychiatrists to assist inmates whose families cannot afford the evaluations.
Despite these efforts, criminal proceedings continue to be affected by the shortage, with some defendants spending months on remand without receiving assessments, while others have been released or had their charges dismissed before their cases could proceed to trial.
In an exclusive interview with Breaking Belize News, Francis “Cisco” Woods, Chairman of the Kolbe Foundation and Acting Chief Executive Officer of Belize Central Prison, confirmed that the institution has been arranging private psychiatric evaluations, sometimes at its own expense, to ensure that inmates can comply with court orders.
“We do our best to have the family member cover the cost. But when in a case where somebody can’t cover it, we will cover it,” Woods explained.
He confirmed that Kolbe has paid for several such assessments in recent months, acknowledging that the arrangement places additional financial pressure on the foundation, which already bears substantial costs associated with operating the prison and providing healthcare services to inmates.
“It’s a cost on us and it’s a burden on us to have to do this because it’s something that’s supposed to be done covered by the government,” Woods said.
According to Woods, the prison has strengthened its psychological and counselling services, while a government-appointed psychiatrist also visits the facility. However, he acknowledged that the available psychiatric assistance falls far short of what is needed.
He explained that when magistrates or judges specifically request psychiatric evaluations for inmates appearing before them, prison management attempts to arrange the assessments through private practitioners, particularly when families cannot afford to do so.
Woods stressed that the institution makes every effort to accommodate the courts, although he acknowledged that the arrangement is not perfect.
The latest developments follow an April 8 investigation by Breaking Belize News, which reported that approximately 40 inmates were awaiting psychiatric evaluations, with some having spent months and, in certain cases, more than a year on remand.
Then-Prison CEO Virgilio Murillo confirmed that the problem had worsened over the preceding three to four years as psychiatrists who previously worked in the public system transitioned into private practice.
While Kolbe’s decision to finance private assessments represents an effort to address the shortage, serious questions remain about how many inmates are still awaiting evaluations and whether cases predating the current prison management are being systematically reviewed.
Woods could not immediately provide an updated figure for the number of outstanding psychiatric assessments or the total number financed by the foundation.
Consequently, it remains unclear how many of the approximately 40 cases identified in April have since been resolved, how many additional defendants have entered the system requiring assessments, and whether some inmates continue to be overlooked despite the interventions.
BBN has documented several additional cases involving court-ordered psychiatric evaluations in the months since its original investigation, although those cases cannot simply be added to the original figure without determining whether they were already included or have subsequently been resolved.
One of the most troubling recent examples involved 27-year-old Kareem Anderson, who was charged with common assault and harm following separate alleged attacks on two women in downtown Belize City in December 2025.
Both incidents were captured on surveillance footage and circulated widely on social media.
Anderson spent approximately nine months on remand without receiving a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. The court had not taken a plea from him because of concerns about his mental fitness, while his family reportedly could not afford a private assessment.
With no indication of when a government evaluation would become available, the Chief Magistrate dismissed the charges against Anderson in late September and ordered his release.
The allegations against him consequently did not proceed to trial.
When BBN raised Anderson’s case with Woods, he said he was unfamiliar with the specific circumstances and requested the defendant’s name so he could investigate.
Anderson’s case is not an isolated example of criminal proceedings being affected by the shortage.
In May, Harold Palma was released after spending more than four months on remand without receiving a psychiatric evaluation. He subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated assault involving a police officer and was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, resulting in his release for time already served.
In another case, Raymond Moody remained behind bars as of October 1, despite being granted $800 bail so his relatives could seek a private psychiatric evaluation. His court-ordered assessment had not been completed, and he was unable to meet his bail conditions.
The situation has also affected serious criminal proceedings before the High Court.
On October 16, BBN reported that Shedrack White, an accused murderer who was declared unfit to stand trial in 2024, had not received the periodic psychiatric reviews ordered by Justice Candace Nanton.
The court had instructed that White undergo evaluations every six months, but those reviews were not conducted as required. Although an assessment was eventually completed in June 2026, it failed to adequately address whether he was currently fit to stand trial, prompting the judge to order another evaluation.
The matter remains before the High Court, with further proceedings scheduled for November.
Similarly, in September, High Court Justice Nigel Pilgrim criticized the failure to conduct periodic psychiatric assessments in the case of Collin Francis, who was eventually sentenced for the manslaughter of Nestor Vasquez and the attempted murder of a psychiatric nurse.
“There is no excuse for failing to fulfil a court order,” Justice Pilgrim stated, stressing the State’s constitutional responsibility to provide adequate resources, including psychiatric services, for the administration of justice.
Meanwhile, Director of Public Health and Wellness Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa has confirmed to Breaking Belize News that the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to face challenges in providing psychiatrists authorized to conduct assessments for legal proceedings.
“We have psychiatrists working at the MOHW but they don’t have authority to deal with legal cases,” Dr. Musa explained in a written exchange with BBN.
She clarified that while forensic psychiatric training would be preferable, particularly for complicated cases, Belize currently does not have a forensic psychiatrist in the country.
Dr. Musa also explained that psychiatrists can assess a person’s mental fitness to stand trial, although more complex cases may require additional information.
Her explanation highlights an important distinction between psychiatric treatment and the specialized or authorized assessments required by the courts.
While the Ministry provides psychiatric care through healthcare facilities, community programmes and visits to the Belize Central Prison, those services do not necessarily fulfill the courts’ requirements for determining whether accused persons are mentally fit to plead or stand trial.
Dr. Musa disclosed that the Ministry was actively working to recruit someone capable of conducting legal assessments, expressing hope that the position could be filled as early as the beginning of November, provided recruitment efforts proceed successfully.
She also confirmed that the Ministry is seeking to recruit three additional psychiatrists for the country.
The continuing shortage has also drawn criticism from Public Service Union President Dean Flowers, who told Breaking Belize News that mental healthcare, particularly for vulnerable persons within the criminal justice system, must receive greater priority.
“I think it’s a very important topic, and certainly a very important conversation that keeps being swept under the rug,” Flowers said.
He argued that adequate psychiatric services should be available throughout the public healthcare system, including correctional institutions, and questioned why the shortage has persisted for so long.
Flowers also called for greater scrutiny of Kolbe’s finances and the use of public resources allocated to the institution. He suggested that a comprehensive financial review could help determine whether sufficient funding could be identified to employ an in-house psychiatrist rather than continuing to outsource assessments.
His proposal comes as Woods maintains that Kolbe is already shouldering considerable expenses, including salaries for medical personnel, healthcare services, outside medical treatment and infrastructure improvements.
Woods emphasized that the foundation continues working closely with government authorities and acknowledged the difficulties facing the Ministry of Health and Wellness in recruiting specialized medical personnel.
He welcomed the prospect of additional psychiatric assistance, describing it as a significant relief for the prison.
However, the broader issue remains unresolved.
Six months after dozens of inmates were identified as awaiting psychiatric evaluations, there is still no updated publicly confirmed accounting of how many remain in the system without the assessments ordered by the courts.
Although Kolbe has assumed the cost of some private evaluations, neither its efforts nor the Ministry’s ongoing recruitment has established that every outstanding assessment is being completed, particularly those involving inmates remanded before the current prison management took over.
The consequences extend beyond prison administration and healthcare. Defendants risk spending prolonged periods incarcerated without their cases advancing, while complainants may face lengthy delays or see criminal proceedings come to an end without the allegations ever being determined at trial.
With the Ministry hoping to recruit additional psychiatric personnel by November, the outstanding question is whether that intervention will be sufficient to address not only new cases but also the backlog that has already left dozens of accused persons caught between the prison, the courts and a system struggling to provide the psychiatric assessments it requires.
I also deliberately left out the unverified second dismissal and made clear that the White and Francis cases involved periodic reviews after findings of unfitness, rather than initial assessments. That keeps the examples legally distinct while demonstrating the wider consequences of the shortage.
The post Belize’s Psychiatric Evaluation Crisis: Defendants languish in prison awaiting mental assessments while others walk free without ever being evaluated appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.