Phillips
DR. PETER Phillips, Minister of National Security, has promised to provide significant support for the Correctional Service in the 2003/2004 budget.
He said that Senator Kern Spencer, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry, had been asked as a priority, to secure the necessary resources to speed up the process of building a new and modern correctional institution to take the pressure off old facilities like the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre and the Fort Augusta Women's Adult Correctional Centre.
"Sometimes when you talk about the need to build new correctional facilities, there are those who want to suggest that it is a misplaced set of priorities. I don't agree. I believe, ultimately, if we as a society continue to maintain correctional institutions which are more than 160 years old, designed for a different time, different standards of behaviour, different notions of what humanity requires, then we are going to be not only condemning ourselves, but condemning our country to a continued process of inhumanity," he said.
He made the statement as he toured the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, the former General Penitentiary, Central Kingston, with other ministry officials and senior officers of the Department of Correctional Services. The Minister, whose visit coincided with his commissioning of nine new vehicles for the Correctional Services, was accompanied by Senator Spencer; Gilbert Scott, Permanent Secretary, and a team from the Department of Correctional Services, led by Earl Fearon, acting Commissioner; Aileen Stephens, Deputy Commissioner for Custodial Services, and Superintendent Gillette Ramsey of the Tower Street Centre.
Dr. Phillips visited the various blocks of the prison. He was warmly greeted by the inmates who expressed appreciation for the rehabilitative efforts being undertaken there. He noted areas of physical deficiency at the centre and promised both short- and medium-term attention to the institution, where he said evidence of the commitment and efficiency of the Correctional Services personnel was in abundance.
He expressed a desire to expand some of the work and recreational programmes he observed at the Tower Street Centre and said his ministry was prepared to examine the possibilities along that avenue.
Acting Commissioner Fearon noted the warm reception the Minister received from the inmates, who were largely allowed outdoors during the tour, as a clear indication of the positive impact of the rehabilitation process in the prison. He said one particular initiative that had been established by the staff of the centre in consideration of the welfare of the inmate population, had led to a dramatic turnaround in the mood and behaviour of the inmates.
With enough material and moral support from the ministry, there were enough skills among the staff and inmates "to repair every problem inside this facility, in order for it to be made a much safer institution", Mr. Fearon said.
