Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 16, 2022 (SKNIS): The array of rehabilitation services available at Her Majesty’s Prison (H.M.P.) has decreased recidivism and made it easier for former inmates to reintegrate into society. However, prison officials have linked the long-term success of the programme to the attitudes of society.
On Wednesday’s (April 13) edition of Working for You, Principal Officer Charles Molyneaux asked the public to resist the tendency to stereotype persons who have paid their debt to society.
“When a person leaves prison they go out to hear ‘ex-prisoner, jailbird,” he said, referring to the names that some people use to label rehabilitated individuals. “These [rehabilitated] persons, who may have been in a gang, may tell themselves ‘boy the only place I [am] feeling loved is in the gang so they are going to gravitate back to the gang.”
To avoid this, Principal Officer Molyneaux said that the public must embrace the concept of giving a second chance.
“We need the society to be a lot more accepting and forgiving when a person would have already paid his or her dues to the state for infringing the law,” he expressed.
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