Tendai Franklyn-Brown, Staff Reporter

Members of a security team, which includes officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force, keep watch over inmates hard at work, beautifying and bushing the surrounding premises of Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre in St Catherine, yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Rehabilitation programmes that allow inmates to labour on external environmental projects reduce violence in prisons, according to June Spence-Jarrett, deputy commissioner of corrections and custodial services.

"Since they (inmates) have been coming out, the level of violence in the institutions has decreased," Spence-Jarrett told The Gleaner yesterday.

A team of 44 inmates from Richmond Farm, Tamarind Farm, St Catherine and South Camp correctional facilities began maintenance and beautification work on the surroundings of Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre in St Catherine, as part of the inmates' public work programme activity.

Spence-Jarrett said that, for the last year, the thrust has been on the rehabilitation of inmates who have participated in the maintenance and labour of institutions, such as schools, police stations, churches and infirmaries.

Dressed in red caps and polo shirts, khaki pants and rubber boots, the inmates started work on the premises as a security team of 68 officers, including members of the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force, kept a watchful eye.

Sense of freedom

The Gleaner spoke to one of the inmates from the low-level security Tamarind Farm facility who has been part of the programme since November. He said the change of environment provided him with a sense of freedom.

"I like the opportunity of being out here working with the other inmates," he said, "I have achieved more self-esteem; the more we work, the better we feel."

Although the inmates receive a stipend, it is not made available to them during their sentence. However, some will be able to access it soon as they are scheduled to be released in less than three months.

Spence-Jarrett said this source of income was welcomed by the inmates as a means of supporting their families when they get out of prison.

"We are insisting we are not housing our inmates any more, we don't have the activities or the infrastructure in there to keep them busy," she said.

"We need them to see how rehab works and let them serve the public."

tendai.franklyn-brown@gleanerjm.com