Call to educate all inmates

While Dodds Prison inmates must serve their time, they also deserve to be rehabilitated, says Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams.

He gave the reminder to prison officers yesterday who he said had a duty to correct and educate.

“The face of a prison has changed. Once upon a time it was licks and lock up, but we must take care of, educate, rehabilitate and enhance the skills of every person who is here,” Abrahams said.

He was speaking at the St Philip prison during the graduation ceremony of an introduction to the agricultural programme held as part of the Barbados Prison Agriculture Expansion Project.

The Centre for Agricultural Research and Innovation (CAGRI) at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, led the training.

For more than six weeks the nine prison officers who graduated learnt about soil preparation, crop cultivation, livestock management and bio-security measures.

“Part of the purpose of the prison is not just to secure people in custody, it’s also to help them go out and be productive citizens. For example, if I have no skill sets, nothing to help me in the job market, I’ll turn to crime and come in. When I leave five or six years later with no skills, then it’ll be a short time before I get back here because the factors that caused me to be here in the first place, are still the factors I would be going out when I leave the prison.

“So it is our responsibility to the persons who are here. Everyone who wants to better themselves must be given a chance to better themselves,” the minister added.

Hands-on training Director of CAGRI Dr Michele Singh described the programme as a milestone achievement for institutional capacity building and national food security.

She recalled that from January to February, the officers completed the rigorous, hands-on training in climate-smart, sustainable agriculture training.

She revealed that the officers had already overseen the cultivation and successful harvest of nearly half an acre of chives, marjoram and thyme.

Singh said it was a tangible outcome representing an 85 per cent increase in productivity compared to previous production cycles.

“This programme demonstrates what’s possible when national security, agriculture and education converge. We are not just growing food, we are growing institutional resilience, technical excellence and a future workforce capable leading agro-based transformation in Barbados and beyond,” she said.

They also received assistance from the Barbados Defence Force.

Prison officers Emille Kellman, Denis Warner, Cecilia Trotman, Mikail Stuart, Daniel Stoute, Brent Bynoe, David Walkes, Anthony and Deighton Davis participated the programme.

Bynoe received an award for being the Most Outstanding, Warner was the Most Improved

Student, Kellman the Most Practical Student, while Trotman received the top award for crop production.

Walkes, who spoke on behalf the prison officers, underscored importance of the training.

capable of transformation said. assistance Force.

Kellman, Trotman, Brent Lee participated in

Improved

Trotman crop of underscored the

Heart of survival

“Agriculture is more than just an industry. It is the backbone of our communities, the heart of our survival and the soul of our connection to the earth. Throughout this course, we’ve studied the science of soil, the art of planting, the discipline of managing livestock and the responsibility of sustaining ecosystems.

“We’ve learned that agriculture is not static, it evolves with technology, climate and the need to be self-sufficient. Importantly, just of our Throughout planting, livestock sustaining agriculture need Importantly, we’ve been taught the value of best practices sustainable farming methods to ethical animal care, from water conservation to organic alternatives.

We are now confident that with our collective efforts and contributions, we can make the prison farm more selfsufficient,” Walkes said. (TG)

The post Call to educate all inmates appeared first on nationnews.com.

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