Prison Service shifts focus to corrections

Shas­tri Boodan

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Prison Ser­vice is mov­ing to trans­form the prison sys­tem from one fo­cused on in­car­cer­a­tion to one cen­tred on re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion and rein­te­gra­tion.

Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Pris­ons Car­los Cor­raspe made the com­ment on Thurs­day dur­ing the sign­ing of a Strate­gic Part­ner­ship Agree­ment be­tween YTEPP, the Amer­i­can Med­ical Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion As­so­ci­a­tion and Vi­sion on Mis­sion.

Cor­raspe said the part­ner­ship would help re­duce re­of­fend­ing by pro­vid­ing in­mates with skills and sup­port need­ed to suc­cess­ful­ly re­turn to so­ci­ety.

"We want strate­gi­cal­ly to move from pris­ons to cor­rec­tions," he said.

Cor­raspe ex­plained that while pris­ons pro­tect so­ci­ety by en­sur­ing of­fend­ers serve their sen­tences, cor­rec­tion­al ser­vices aim to ad­dress the fac­tors con­tribut­ing to crim­i­nal be­hav­iour.

He said in­car­cer­a­tion alone pro­tects the pub­lic on­ly for the du­ra­tion of an of­fend­er’s sen­tence.

"If we are able to tran­si­tion from prison to cor­rec­tion, and we are able to re­duce those crim­ino­genic risks through re­ha­bil­i­ta­tive pro­gram­ming, then we are able to pro­tect so­ci­ety not just for the five years, but the five years plus when they leave," Cor­raspe said.

He iden­ti­fied an­ti­so­cial be­hav­iour, crim­i­nal as­so­ci­a­tions, drug abuse, men­tal health is­sues and poor em­ploy­a­bil­i­ty as fac­tors linked to of­fend­ing.

Cor­raspe said Vi­sion on Mis­sion and YTEPP have worked with the Prison Ser­vice for years, pro­vid­ing pre-re­lease pro­grammes and vo­ca­tion­al train­ing in ar­eas in­clud­ing car­pen­try, plumb­ing, elec­tri­cal in­stal­la­tion, culi­nary arts, in­for­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy and en­tre­pre­neur­ship.

He said the new part­ner­ship would strength­en those pro­grammes, but re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion must be sup­port­ed by em­ploy­ment, hous­ing and coun­selling af­ter re­lease.

"That is why this MOU is so im­por­tant," he said. "The work of Vi­sion on Mis­sion and YTEPP com­ing to­geth­er... is some­thing that we are very hap­py about to­day."

Min­is­ter of Ter­tiary Ed­u­ca­tion and Skills Train­ing Sen­a­tor Pro­fes­sor Prakash Per­sad said the agree­ment rep­re­sents an in­vest­ment in peo­ple seek­ing a sec­ond chance.

"Re­al de­vel­op­ment must al­so be mea­sured by how we treat those at the mar­gins, those seek­ing a sec­ond chance, those nav­i­gat­ing rein­te­gra­tion and those de­ter­mined to re­build their lives," Per­sad said.

He said the ini­tia­tive pro­vides prac­ti­cal skills, in­ter­na­tion­al­ly recog­nised cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and path­ways to em­ploy­ment.

"Em­ploy­ment is more than in­come. It is iden­ti­ty, it is sta­bil­i­ty, and it is one of the strongest pre­dic­tors of suc­cess­ful rein­te­gra­tion," Per­sad said.

Per­sad called on em­ploy­ers and oth­er stake­hold­ers to sup­port re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion ef­forts by cre­at­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for for­mer of­fend­ers.

"Em­pow­er­ment does not end with train­ing. It must ex­tend in­to re­al op­por­tu­ni­ties in the work­force and in en­tre­pre­neur­ship," he said.