Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 1st, 2021 (ZIZ News) On Thursday, residents of Her Majesty’s Prison set to be released soon, completed an 8-week Stages of Change Substance Abuse Treatment Group Session.
The aim of the sessions was to assist them in making more informed decisions when reintegrated into society.
The program was facilitated through the National Council on Drug Abuse Prevention, which was proposed by Director Karimu Byron-Caines.
This is the second such program that was done at the prison. The first occurred in 2019 with a visiting councilor from Taiwan through the Ministry of Health, who then trained the management staff at the National Council.
Commissioner of Police Terrance James spoke to the significance of the training sessions and his vision for the institution.
13 inmates successfully completed the programme.
According to James, this and other similarly oriented programs are aimed at reducing the number of repeat offenders in the country.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 12, 2020 (SKNIS): Her Majesty’s Prison in St. Kitts & Nevis has in place strict measures and protocols to protect staff and inmates from contracting the COVID-19 virus. The measures and protocols have been in place since March 22, 2020.
Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Prison in St. Kitts & Nevis, Terrance James, during his appearance on “Working for You” on November 11, said that there are prisons in the Caribbean in countries such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic that have seen contamination with the COVID-19 virus within their walls.
“In terms of protocols we have the same protocols that have been implemented since March,” he said while pinpointing that the protocols for mask-wearing and sanitization of hands for staff entering the prison are in place and must be strictly adhered to.
“We also have our thermal thermometer and the officer that will check the temperature, to ensure that persons are not entering the prisons with any elevated temperatures,” he said
“We also have three cells which we call quarantine or segregated cells that when inmates come into the prison for the first time, we keep them in the area and have the prison doctor check them and then we will have them kept in that area for fourteen days as our quarantine area before they go into the general population,” said Mr. James. “This is part of our prison protocol so we can maintain our prison to be as sterile as we can for the time being.
The Commissioner also made mention that he and his staff will continue to maintain the protocols until the pandemic ceases to exist in order to keep the prison population
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 11, 2020 (SKNIS): Staff at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) in St. Kitts and Nevis is committed to rehabilitating inmates so that they can lead productive lives and not return to prison upon release according to Terrence James, Commissioner of Corrections at HMP during his Wednesday, November 11 appearance on ‘Working for You.’
“Our job as members of the staff of the prison is to train that individuals when he/she would have come into the prison so that he/she would be going out as a different individual,” said Mr. James, noting that there is a high record in St. Kitts and Nevis where the same set of persons is repeatedly prosecuted, which is termed recidivism. “We have taken it up that the rehabilitation programme in the prison must take root so that when inmates come into the prison that they go out, and when discharged, they are discharged as a different individual.”
Several programmes were implemented at HMP to rehabilitate inmates. These include classes at the secondary and tertiary level; vehicle mechanics; welding; building construction; tailoring; agriculture; art and craft; mentoring; counselling; conflict resolution; religious instruction; welfare assistance and substance abuse disorder, as well as behavioural therapy. There is also the popular RGI Prison Band.
“The one that tops all these is the educational programme, which we have been having for almost four years now where the prisoners themselves have the opportunity to teach civilians. We have that programme that is taking place at the Maurice Hillier Memorial School where the prisoners go out and teach most of the subject areas to civilians,” said Principal Officer at HMP, Virgil Hodge.
Commissioner James said that it is important for the general public to know and understand that positive things happen at the prison. “It is not all bad and negative. There are some positive things coming out of the prison because of our rehabilitation programme,” he added.
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