THE Ministry of Justice has begun work with key justice and security agencies on proposals to modernise rehabilitation and prepare for the implementation of the Parole Act, 2026.In a news release issued yesterday, it was reported that Justice Minister Devesh Maharaj held a high-level strategic meeting on Friday with senior officials from the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service (TTPrS), Judiciary, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and Ministry of Homeland Security.Among those attending were Acting Commissioner of Prisons Elvin Scanterbury and TTPrS executives; Assistant Registrar and Deputy Marshal of the Supreme Court Kerlene Edmund, representing the Judiciary; Acting Assistant Superintendent Ramdath Phillip, head of the TTPS Legal Unit; and Zaheer Ali, director of the Policy and Community Support Office of the Ministry of Homeland Security.Maharaj said the justice system needed to move beyond traditional approaches and adopt evidence-based methods of rehabilitation.'Can people be changed for the better? Yes, but it requires a modernised, evidence- based approach to reform,' he said.Maharaj called for concrete proposals and recommendations to improve rehabilitation systems and determine the resources needed to implement them.The meeting examined preparations for the roll-out of the Parole Act, 2026, including the systems, institutional capacity and inter-agency cooperation required for parole administration and the supervised reintegration of people released from custody.Officials also discussed the use of evidence-based assessment tools and international practices, including cognitive assessment models used in the United Kingdom and Norway, to measure inmates' progress and readiness to return to society.