What are my rights if I am arrested in Trinidad and Tobago?

Your rights at the police station

Under section 5(2)(c) of the Constitution, the reason for your arrest must be given "promptly and with sufficient particularity". Habeas corpus is an order of the High Court releasing you if the detention is unlawful.

The right to an attorney applies in police custody (Thornhill v Attorney General) and includes private access (Hunte and Khan v The State, para 23). If you are under 18, or held on suspicion of a capital offence such as murder, the police must tell the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority as soon as possible, so Duty Counsel can be assigned (Legal Aid and Advice Act (Chapter 7:07), ss 4A, 15B). The Constitution says nothing about telling family, so ask your attorney to do it.

Questioning, silence and children

You need not answer questions or give a statement, and anything you say may be used in evidence. No general statutory rule lets a court hold your silence under questioning against you. A breach of the Judges' Rules (the rules the police follow when questioning suspects), or of your right to see your attorney, does not automatically make a confession inadmissible: the judge decides whether it was voluntary and, if so, whether fairness requires it to be excluded (Hunte and Khan, paras 22–24).

When a child under 18 is arrested and charged, the police must at once inform a parent or guardian or, failing that, an appropriate adult (Children Act (Chapter 46:01), s 51A).

How long police can hold you

The Constitution sets no fixed number of hours. The police must justify "any continued detention after arrest" (Ramsingh v Attorney General, para 8).

• Summary offences, arrest without a warrant. A police officer of the rank of corporal or above may enquire into the case and grant you bail. The officer must do so if it will not be practicable to bring you before a magistrate or Justice of the Peace within 24 hours, unless the offence appears to be of a serious nature. If you are kept in custody, you must be brought before a court "as soon as practicable" (Summary Courts Act (Chapter 4:20), s 105).
• Indictable offences. Once you are charged, the police must bring you before a Master of the High Court "forthwith or at the earliest available Court date" and give reasons for any delay (Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011, s 8(7)–(8)). The Master can deal with bail at that first hearing (s 11).
• Anti-gang cases. Where the police have reasonable cause to believe that a person has committed, is committing or is about to commit an offence under the Anti-Gang Act 2021, or has interfered with an investigation of one, they may hold that person without charge for up to 48 hours, and a Judge may authorise further detention, up to 7 days from the arrest in all (Anti-Gang Act 2021, s 16).

Bail and the new tests

A magistrate decides bail for a summary offence, and a Judge or Master for an indictable or either-way offence (Bail Act (Chapter 4:60), s 5(1)–(2)). The Act gives no power to grant bail on a charge of treason, piracy or hijacking, or of an offence other than murder for which death is the fixed penalty (s 5(2)(b), First Schedule, Part I). Since 20 February 2026 a Justice of the Peace may also grant bail in indictable and either-way cases, except where the accused must show exceptional circumstances or sufficient cause, and must then have the accused brought before a Master (Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011, s 10(1B)(b), (3)).

Since the Bail (Amendment) Act 2024, a person charged with murder, or in certain firearm cases, must show "exceptional circumstances". A person charged with a serious "specified" offence (listed in Part II of the First Schedule) must show "sufficient cause" if they have a conviction in the last 10 years for an offence punishable with 10 years' imprisonment or more, or another specified-offence charge pending. The burden is on the accused (s 5(2)–(4), (6), (8)). If no evidence has been taken within 180 days of the charge being read, or the trial is not finished within a year, the accused may apply to a Judge or Master for bail (s 5(5)). The High Court has held that a person charged with murder must still show exceptional circumstances on that application (Mathura v The State (HC T&T, 30 January 2025), para 116).

Since May 2026, if TT$30,000 or more in cash, or a deed, is offered to secure bail, the court may hold a "Bail Source Hearing" at which the person offering it must prove its source was legitimate, and bail may be refused if it was not (ss 6(2)(h), 6B).

If your rights are breached

• A claim for damages against the State for false imprisonment, assault or malicious prosecution, within 4 years of the date the cause of action accrued. For malicious prosecution, that is when the prosecution ended in your favour, not the date of arrest (Limitation of Certain Actions Act (Chapter 7:09), ss 3(1)(a), 18).
• A constitutional motion in the High Court (Constitution, s 14(1)), though not as a general substitute for an adequate ordinary claim (Harrikissoon v Attorney General).

In a state of public emergency, regulations may authorise detention and override these rights unless shown not to be reasonably justifiable (Constitution, s 7). A person detained under them may ask for the case to be reviewed by an independent tribunal, though its recommendations are not binding (s 11). The most recent state of public emergency took effect on 3 March 2026 (Legal Notice 39/2026) and ended on 17 September 2026.