There are plans in the making to institute alternative sentences in the hopes of reducing overcrowding in the prisons, according to Chief Probation and Social Services officer Forbes Munroe.
Munroe, testifying before the Commission of Inquiry into the Camp Street Disturbances and Subsequent Deaths yesterday, stated that his department, the Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) programme and Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan are currently involved in talks concerning the possibility of such being implemented.
While he noted that probation itself is an alternative to sentencing, he added that there is need for much more focus on that option. It is also his belief that more work needs to be done in collaboration with the Parole Board if a direct reduction in the prison population is to be seen. He stated that while the law requires that a report be made by the Probation Department to the Parole Board before an inmate is placed on parole, he has not seen this being done since being elevated to his position.
Munroe reminded then that the role of rehabilitation services is to ensure the person is provided with a second chance and another opportunity to be better. He, therefore, posited that in order for probation to play the major role it should in the judicial system, there is need for the involvement of other stakeholders, including private enterprises, non-governmental organisations and even the community. Munroe explained that with the involvement of these entities, support as regards guidance, skills training and employment can be provided to the individuals and the probation officer would then be tasked with playing the role of monitoring and evaluating their progress.
“We should be more corrective than punitive in our interventions and attitudes toward persons who would have offended,” Munroe said, noting that in order for alternative sentencing to be effective, there is need for a very strong Probation Department. “As it is right now, it cannot deliver the kind of service that would be comparable to the demand that’s out there right now in society,” he said.
A team from his department should be visiting the prisons daily, he said, but admitted that because of shortages, visits are done once or twice weekly. Munroe told the Commission that at the moment there is only one parole officer on staff and that person is required to visit the different prison locations. Probation officers are required to perform aftercare duties on admission of an inmate, in which they help to ensure that individual’s security, as well as to provide rehabilitation and reintegration services.
