Rehabilitation of ex-cons is an investment, says advocate
Published:Sunday | April 23, 2023 | 1:42 AMTanesha Mundle - Staff Reporter
There is an urgent need for a public and private sector consensus on societal reintegration of ex-inmates, Carla Gullotta, executive director for Stand Up for Jamaica, believes.
She said frustration is high among ex-inmates who have transformed themselves in prison and are now ready to make a meaningful contribution to society, but are facing several roadblocks.
“If you are a bad man, stay a bad man and come out a bad man, you don’t expect anything. But if you have been struggling to learn to do something and you finally achieve something and you are released, as soon as you say ‘I am an ex-inmate’ to a potential employer, it’s over. They send you back home and they don’t even finish the interview,” Gullotta shared with The Sunday Gleaner last week, while noting that ex-inmates are now leaving prison with associate degrees.
She added, “If we are serious about fighting crime, we have to give people who are willing not to go back to crime a second chance, because if they don’t get any chance they will falter after some time and do something wrong again.”
The prisoner advocate said she is concerned about the small number of ex-offenders who are enrolled in rehabilitation; however, she is aware that the lack of proper infrastructure is a problem, as well as limited funds.
“You have to extend rehabilitation not to a few but to many more inmates and to use rehabilitation as an instrument to reintegration, because it doesn’t make sense to rehabilitate if you’re not reintegrating,” she argued.
Gullotta said one out of every three inmates who doesn’t participate in the rehabilitation programmes usually re-offends; while for those who partake in rehabilitation, one out of every 100-150 re-offends.
“If you want to increase rehabilitation, you have to consider it as an investment,” she said.
“It’s very easy for business people to lament about violence which is affecting businesses but if you probably decide to participate and partner with those ex-inmates who doing well, you are doing a great job of preventing more offenders from offending.”
REVIEW OF POLICIES
State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Zavia Mayne, said the Government is now taking a different approach to corrections management, particularly as it relates to the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates.
“What this means is that we will be enacting legislation that speaks to just that, as well as reviewing existing policies that are in place. And where we find that policies are contrary to the policies and re-enhancement of rehabilitation and reintegration, then these are policies that we definitely will review,” Mayne told The Sunday Gleaner.
The state minister admitted that the Government has recognised that enough emphasis is not being placed on the reintegration aspect for ex-convicts, noting that one of the drawbacks in the effectiveness of a complete rehabilitation programme is that only a small number of inmates are rehabilitated.
Consequently, he said, the Government is also looking at the possibility of introducing a compulsory element in the rehabilitation exercise.
“Of course, inmates will have to go through a process of evaluation and a determination will be made as to what is best for them, considering all the factors,” Mayne said.
Noting the concerns raised by ex-convicts about the long process involved in the doling out of the rehabilitation grants, Mayne said the disbursement of the support given to inmates when they leave will also be addressed.
In the meantime, the state minister is encouraging everyone, including the private sector and civil society, to get involved in the rehabilitation process, while promising that Government will lead from the front.