The recent Prison Education Program (PEP) end-of-term ceremony (see related story) was encouraging. Eleven inmates now have more knowledge and skills to help them integrate back into the community upon their eventual release.
The inclusive approach offered individualised learning plans based on reading-level assessments. The students reportedly showed “appreciable increases in academic achievement” after just a few months.
Four did so enough in all subject areas to qualify for GED exams and two already earned an official diploma, while the other two are set to do so in January. This was a pilot, but similar efforts will no doubt continue.
Prisons are often referred to as correctional institutions for a reason. The intention is to not just punish convicts but also rehabilitate them, so they don’t become so-called “revolving door” career criminals and a constant burden to society.
For years there were persistent complaints about a lack of meaningful resocialisation activities at the penitentiary in Pointe Blanche, but several related initiatives have since been developed. As is the case with St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and the future St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH), certain investments are also made pending the construction of a new prison.
The latest news on that was an agreement signed with the Netherlands and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) two weeks ago regarding both temporary and long-term detention facilities. An amount of 30 million euros in Dutch funding is available for this purpose as part of the so-called “country package” of reforms, of which 20 million to build the complex and 10 million over a five-year period for other improvements.
As stated earlier in this column, a modern prison is about much more than walls and metal bars. It should be a place where those who erred are stimulated and assisted in changing their lives to take that second chance everyone deserves.
