By Avia, Gleaner Writer
Staff officer Alan Walker of the Tower Street branch of the Department of Correctional Services.
THE ENTIRE administrative group involved must have been present.
The Department of Correctional Services was the largest and best manned booth at the recently held Hardware Merchants Association trade fair at the National Arena in Kingston recently.
The correctional staff were like mother hens and roosters clucking over the achievements of their little ones.
The analogy may appear an incongruous one, considering that what was on show was the work of men and women, plus juveniles convicted of crimes in the island's penal system.
According to deputy commissioner in charge of human resources and community services management, June Jarrett, the exhibits, including carved wooden furnishings, metalwork, upholstered pieces and textiles and leather craft were the work of both adult and juvenile inmates, as well as community services which fall under the Probation Unit.
Vocational training is offered to these in the areas of metal craft, home economics, woodwork, catering, clothing and textiles, shoemaking, cosmetology, auto mechanics, computer, tailoring and leather craft, poultry, pig rearing, cattle and sheep.
"All juveniles must learn a skill," the deputy commissioner told Outlook.
For the adults, the infrastructure is not enough to take everyone, but many are meaningfully engaged in these skilled areas. At the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, formerly called the General Penitentiary, Staff Officer Alan Walker is in charge of the Brick Yard the production and vocational centre. Alongside woodwork, the inmates are also engaged in chicken rearing, egg production and block making. There was also a welding shop, but this is now defunct because of a shortage of staff.
"We have seen them come here and they are not even able to hold a tape measure and in no time they are doing great work."
Mr. Walker proudly showed the natural wood bedroom suite and living room suites, both made of beautiful Spanish Elm.
A few inmates have left and have been able to set up businesses of their own based on the skills acquired while incarcerated.
Corporal Donald Parker of Tamarind Farm told Outlook that the skills training and production activities in prison give those who are involved, staff and inmates alike, a sense of fulfilment and achievement
"They also get a stipend based on a percentage of the income earned from what is sold," Corporal Parker said. "All products are sold on the open market."
The reason
This brings us to the reason for the presence of the Correctional Centre booth at the trade fair.
According to assistant Superintendent June Jarrett, "We are trying to get a market for what we produce. We need a niche. We are trying to set up a cottage industry from which everyone involved will benefit."
Sigismund Shepherd, assistant superintendent at Richmond Farm, said that the results of the inmates' industry is no less than amazing. "We build on what some of them already know," he said.
The Correctional Services Department has harnessed and honed a rich source of skilled labour, it appears. The benefits are not only monetary, but also give to everyone involved a sense of purpose, a thing badly needed in the correctional setting.
