PHILIPSBURG--The Pointe Blanche Prison and House of Detention held its end of term ceremony for its pilot Prison Education Program (PEP) on Saturday, December 17, 2022. A group consisting of eleven inmates showed appreciable increases in academic achievement during the short duration of the programme.
Prison Director Steven Carty welcomed Minister of Justice Anna Richardson and her support staff, the Creative Leadership and Innovation Management Bureau (CLIMB) foundation instructors, Pointe Blanche Prison and House of Detention staff, inmates, and family and friends of the inmates.
Carty congratulated the inmates for their progress and encouraged them to continue learning. He extended his gratitude to the CLIMB foundation for providing an inclusive education programme that considered the needs of each inmate with the desire to further their education.
“One basic goal at the Pointe Blanche Prison is to create opportunities for success,” Prison Director Carty stated as he addressed the graduating inmates. “We are all products of our village’s success plan.
“At this institution, we are a village. We don’t pick and choose what areas we are going to give support to. These graduates are a part of our village and we are wholeheartedly cheering, applauding and encouraging after supporting them through to the completion of the GED programme. This success was theirs to claim. They owed it to themselves, and we are honoured to stand with them – then, and now.”
One of the prisoners addressed Minister Richardson on behalf of all inmates, saying: “Although you haven’t physically been present here with us, you are still a part of this journey, because without your support the Prison Education Program would have never commenced. I wholeheartedly thank you and express my gratitude.”
He said he is overwhelmed with pride and thankful for the minister’s recognition, “because you realised that we needed a change in our lives and you didn’t want us to step back out into society the same way we came in. Even though this happened after we were incarcerated, it has kept us engaged in significant work that has the goal of helping others to see that there is change and that no matter where we are we all need a change mentally.”
CLIMB foundation’s instructors Yadira Boston and Delroy Pierre said at the ceremony that they understand the importance of identifying the level of each inmate as the starting point of effective instruction. At the start of the PEP, the CLIMB foundation assessed the inmates who enrolled.
The assessments indicated that many inmates struggled with reading, as reading levels ranged from kindergarten to primary grade levels. For the few inmates beyond a primary grade reading level, students’ levels varied from pre-GED to GED in different subject areas when assessed for the GED programme.
Once the assessments were completed, all inmates enrolled in the programme received individualised learning plans. This allowed the inmates to work at their level and pace through a guided differentiated instructional programme.
The PEP end of term ceremony celebrated the progress of all 11 student-inmates), as all had shown appreciable increases in academic achievement during the short duration of the programme. In fact, four had shown enough progress in all subject areas to be able to sit the official GED exams after only a few months in the programme.
Two of the four inmates that sat all the GED exams passed and earned an official GED diploma. Boston said that the other two inmates are set to do their last GED exams to earn their GED diplomas in January 2023.
At the end-of-term ceremony, inmates expressed through speeches and poetry their heartfelt gratitude to Richardson for giving them a second chance to continue their education and for providing them with an educational environment filled with new computers, headphones, books, whiteboards, digital screen and positive teachers who cared.
Richardson congratulated each inmate for their progress in the programme and gifted each of them with a token to encourage them to continue progressing. She then took the opportunity to thank the director of the prison, the entire team at the Pointe Blanche Prison and House of Detention, and the CLIMB foundation for their hard work and dedication to making this programme a success.
“I am elated to celebrate the success of our 11 inmates who have chosen to soar academically,” Richardson said. “The step that they’ve taken to pursue education while in detention highly indicates that society should not give up on them.
“The celebration, which was aptly themed ‘Success Beyond Expectations’, was a very emotional one for me as I looked towards the enthusiastic inmates who are very eager to continue the educational programme offered at the prison. I repeatedly stated to them: ‘At no point in time should you ever give up, I am so proud of you.’”
