Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander says the Government intends to reintroduce ‘hard labour’ for convicted offenders, with prisoners serving sentences being deployed in public clean-up programmes.He made the announcement yesterday while speaking with reporters during a meeting with the coordinator and teams of the National Programme for the Upkeep of Public Spaces at the St John’s Community Centre in Tunapuna.
POSITIVE STEP: Gerard Gordon
Pointing to workers participating in the programme, Alexander said convicted offenders would eventually join similar initiatives as part of their sentences.“We are going to reintroduce (a programme) where persons who have been charged, convicted by a court, and sentenced to hard labour, we are going to reintroduce those persons to come back out into the streets and help with the clean-up process,” he said.Alexander said the existing prison system did not reflect what a sentence of hard labour should entail.“If you are convicted, 12 months or two years’ hard labour, whatever...what does hard labour in the jail do? A man just sitting in a cell. A man is smoking, on his phone, on the Internet and all these things. That is not hard labour. That is not hard work,” he said.He said the proposed programme would also provide an opportunity for prisoners to begin rebuilding their reputations before completing their sentences.“If someone is smart on the inside, he can use this process to start to reintegrate himself into the public. Let the public see (him and say), ‘listen, that fella is hard-working,’” Alexander said.He added that the initiative was already implemented in other territories and had seen successes.“That’s what we intend to reintroduce,” he said.Alexander also said the nation’s prisons represented one of the country’s largest available labour forces and that the Government intended to make greater use of that resource.“We have one of the biggest labour forces at the nation’s prisons, and we are ready to utilise them,” he said.Eligibilityrequirements necessaryCommenting yesterday on the initiative, Prison Officers’ Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Gerard Gordon, said while they welcomed the proposal, several issues must be addressed before the initiative is broadened.He described the proposal as a positive step, saying meaningful work had long been recognised as an important part of the rehabilitation process.“The Minister of Homeland Security’s proposal to expand inmate participation in public maintenance is, in principle, a laudable one,” Gordon said. “Meaningful work has long been recognised as an important component of rehabilitation, helping incarcerated individuals develop skills, instil discipline, and prepare for successful reintegration into society.”He noted, however, that inmates already participated in a range of work programmes within the Prison Service, provided they met strict eligibility requirements.Gordon said convicted prisoners had to be medically examined and certified fit by the Prison Medical Officer, serve part of their sentence and undergo a comprehensive risk assessment before being assigned work duties.He said factors including the likelihood of escape, gang affiliations, criminal associations, behavioural history and overall threat level were assessed before inmates were approved for work programmes.Those deemed suitable currently worked in areas including food services, the prison garage, tailor shop, construction, maintenance, crop production and the care of farm animals maintained by the Prison Service.“These programmes already provide valuable vocational training while supporting the daily operations of our correctional facilities,” Gordon said.Gordon cautioned that supervising inmate work details outside correctional facilities required specially trained prison officers.He said officers assigned to such duties needed the knowledge, experience and resources to maintain security, manage inmate behaviour and respond effectively to incidents, adding that public safety could not be compromised.While reaffirming the Prison Service’s commitment to rehabilitation and constructive inmate engagement, Gordon said any expansion of inmate employment programmes must be based on careful risk assessments and established correctional practices.“Every decision regarding inmate employment, whether inside or outside correctional facilities, must be guided first and foremost by comprehensive risk assessment, sound correctional practice, and the overriding responsibility to protect the public,” he said.
