Acting Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Michael Lashley, alongside Superintendent of Prisons, Lt. Col. John Nurse, during the Barbados Prison Service’s 10th Anniversary Parade and Award Ceremony at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds yesterday.
Prison Officer of the Year, Derick Norris, receiving his award from Acting Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Michael Lashley.
Superintendent of Prisons, Lt. Col. John Nurse, presenting Outstanding Service awards to (from right) Leena Weekes-Phillips, Deysha Yearwood and Sophia Sandiford.
Superintendent of Prisons, Lt. Col. John Nurse, says that the role of the prison has shifted from primarily a custodial service, to putting more emphasis on the rehabilitation of offenders, and he says the Barbados Prison Service has embraced this change.
He made the comments while addressing those gathered yesterday for the Barbados Prison Service’s 10th Anniversary Parade and Award Ceremony at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, as he spoke to the development of an official within the Prison, trained in a myriad of rehabilitative and social skills.
“The Prison itself now employs enviable levels of Social Science practitioners qualified in a range of precious skills, particularly relevant to the reformative efforts needed within the facility,” he said.
He added, “In our quest to be one, if not the best in the region, we are constantly in the search to identify and utilise ‘what works techniques’ to better serve our communities and to assist in the reduction of crime.”
His comments came as he explained that Barbados, like many of its regional counterparts, has been engaged in the active role of preparing incarcerated offenders for life after prison. He indicated that established within their system is a process where all offenders, on entering prison, undergo a series of initiatives designed to assist in determining the appropriate care and treatment required to ensure a successful re-integration of the offender to his or her community.
Nurse made the point as he contended that the Prison Service is committed to and takes seriously the role it has to assist in the reduction of crime and in the improvement of public protection. To that end, he said that with the focus on rehabilitation, they have instituted programmes which seek to address offending behaviour, drug and alcohol misuse, education and vocational skills. Additionally, he said they seek to have more sharply focused and better integrated regimes and sentence planning approaches.
“As to be expected, there is a higher level of expectation of the Prison Service. We are expected to deliver more than incarceration, the demand is now for a more seamless reintegration of offenders into the community, a circumstance which requires a more focused and joined up approach to sentence management of offenders,” he said.
Meanwhile, noting that there can be no denying that there have been many improvements at the Prison Service and that many have been successful, Lt. Col. Nurse added that some areas still require urgent attention. However, he stopped short of identifying what those areas are, though he suggested that they will engage the Prison’s active consideration in the years to come. (JRT)