THE DEPARTMENT of Corrections officially presented a multi-point National Rehabilitation Strategy during a launch at Kings House on Thursday.
Lt. Col. John Prescod, Commissioner of Corrections, in presenting the plan, said that the primary objective was to reduce recidivism, that is the tendency of inmates to repeat convictions, to 10 per cent by 2003. This he said, was not an over ambitious target, as the Department had succeeded in reducing the figure from 60 per cent in 1995 to 31 per cent in 2000.
He said that for the first time, the Department would be pursuing a case management approach to monitoring inmates, utilising both information technology and human intervention. He said this was an adaptation of a system that had been successfully applied in the Canadian penal system.
The rehabilitation strategy, he noted, also called for the establishment of Citizens' Advisory Committees to monitor the workings of the systems and make recommendations, as well as more structured recreation for inmates as a therapeutic tool in the process.
Col. Prescod said the critical challenge facing the correctional system was to create a balance between preparing its clients for positive participation and input in their communities, and working to prevent crime.
The Commissioner appealed for broad support of the plan, stating that the clients needed "hope and discipline" in order to succeed in meeting that challenge.
In his address, Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, said that the rehabilitation plan was a "clear testimony to the efforts to humanise the entire justice system."
He said the penal system had to operate even handedly, justly and in the interest of the public. A particular concern, he said, was for the realisation of full and universal literacy among the prison population. The Minister challenged the audience to join with the Department of Corrections in "finding ways to harmonise the society" and remove the scars of the past.
In launching the National Rehabilitation Strategy, Governor-General, Sir Howard Cooke, said the Correctional Services had embarked on a "fundamental and far-reaching initiative." The time had come, he added that society should no longer see inmates as pariahs or unfit to contribute.
The launch also heard from Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security; Human Rights Consultant Flo O'Connor, retired president of the Court of Appeal and noted advocate of penal reform, Carl Rattray and inmates from several of the Correctional Service programmes.
