Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister of National Security, Cynthia Pratt, said depending on the crime, an ex-con can have a new start in life, beginning with a clean criminal record.This lingering issue was brought up at a presentation service at the jailhouse by Montagu MP Brent Symonette, who said, “We’ve talked about this issue for far too long as politicians, but as the Nike ad says, let’s just do it.”
But DPM Pratt said this work is already in motion, as a programme that seeks to expunge some criminals’ records has already been implemented within the system.
“Yes there is expungement,” she explained. “Depending on what the crime is, there is an expungement record in place now where records are removed, if it is something minor. But with the major things, that’s another story.”
DPM Pratt said this is just one of the many programmes in place that seeks to give released inmates a second chance at a better life.
But while they’re locked behind the bars, a Steering Committee, which is made up of various businessmen throughout the country, such as Norman Solomon and a number of Christian leaders, has pledged its help and is seeking to extend its “crusade behind the bars,” to ensure that they are rehabilitated.
Founder of the Committee, Pastor Alexis Wallace said, since the success of the first crusade in 2001, his team has made a steady commitment to continue to reach out to the prisoners.
“The committee is a dynamic cross-section of people,” he said. “We believe in rehabilitation for those who truly want to be rehabilitated. Today, we are committed to a strategic faith-based initiative that we are ready to activate.”
This faith-based programme is an initiative that the DPM fully supports. She said, since visiting a Jacksonville prison where a faith-based programme is set-up, she believes that if such a system were implemented at Her Majesty’s Prison, the inmates there would get a much-needed wake up call.
“This is a section where you volunteer to go because of behaviour, because of attitude, because you are focused on rehabilitation,” he said. “And you appreciate the fact that you are in a faith-based section.
Anything that goes wrong, the inmates in that section report it because they don’t want any problems in that section of the prison. This is what we need here.”
The Steering Committee presented “care packages” containing hygiene products to the inmates, as a part of their ongoing efforts to ensure that they are “taken care of.” Similar packages will also be presented at the Detention Centre.
By: IANTHIA SMITH, The Nassau Guardian
