Jamaican inmates to benefit from computer training

Thursday, April 21, 2005

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The Jamaican Department of Corrections has partnered with One Stop Computer Shop to expand its Students Expressing Truth (SET) computer programme to inmates at the Tower Street and St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centres. 

Under the agreement, computer laboratories will be established at the correctional facilities, and inmates will be provided with access to computer courses in a variety of disciplines ranging from video editing to architecture.

The Department of Corrections’ partnership with One Stop Computer Shop dates back to June 2002, when the company’s managing director, Kevin Wallen, who is a volunteer at the South Camp Adult Correctional Centre, assisted in the establishment of the SET programme, to provide technology training for the male inmates at that facility.

The initiative was aimed at bolstering the employability of incarcerated men once they have been released.

More than two years later, the programme has been deemed a qualified success, with more than 80 inmates having participated in the project, and acquiring useful skills. 

Addressing a media briefing at his King Street offices on April 18\, Commissioner of Corrections, Major Richard Reese, explained that the foiled prison break at the Tower Street Correctional Centre last month, in part influenced the decision to expand training to the island’s two other male prisons. 

“We have done some reflection and I think it is widely accepted that there is a need to engage the staff and inmates of our institutions in a very meaningful way,” Major Reese asserted, further noting that given the computer training programme’s success at South Camp, its introduction into other prisons was seen as a favourable move. “We see it necessary to expand that programme as yet another vehicle for rehabilitation and engagement,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wallen explained that Richard Bucknor and Robert James, two inmates at the South Camp facility, had originated the idea for the SET programme.

He said the inmates decided that “they wanted to get some studying done so we did an assessment on the guys that were interested and found that out of the 10 at the time that showed some interest, eight of them were pretty illiterate to the point where they couldn’t read, or write, and the other two were barely literate.” 

Mr. Wallen noted he initially brought in newspapers for the men to read, and subsequently introduced interactive computer programming to improve their reading ability. 

“The programmes that we had were very simple and interactive that they would tell them when they got something wrong and if they wanted to know how to spell it (a word), they could just click a button and it would tell them…we used that and saw where some of the guys went from not being able to read anything at all, to where they are taking part in quiz competitions and spelling bee competitions,” he pointed out. 

Looking to further the programme, Mr. Wallen said he approached the Department of Corrections and asked if he could renovate the library at South Camp and put in some computers. After receiving permission to proceed, he said the library was painted and an air conditioning unit and 11 computers installed.

Not content to teach the inmates only software programmes such as Microsoft Word, he said, “we thought we should teach them some different types of software rather than just read and type…teach them how to use programmes like Autocad, how they can build houses…and video editing…”

In addition to the SET programme, the Department of Corrections will also be undertaking other initiatives to foster improved relations between the inmates and the staff of the prisons. 

Major Reese said these initiatives would include, a study on the justice process that would involve the Norman Manley Law School and court users; a study on trust; and a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Vision 21 Project and the community radio station, ROOTS FM, to have broad-based societal civic dialogue on ways to have a safer, less violence-prone country.

Charles Neeson, Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School, will be lending assistance to the SET programme as well as the study on the justice process.

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