Prisoners to get IT training
THE Department of Correctional Services and Cornerstone Ministries on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a one-year rehabilitation project at the South Camp Road Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston.
The project, which was implemented in November last year and which is renewable, has been budgeted to cost $6.8 million.
The Department of Correctional Services is footing 25 per cent of the cost while Cornerstone Ministries, a 17 year- old christian-centred non-governmental organisation (NGO), said it would be sourcing grant funding for the remaining 75 per cent.
Under the project which is centred around information, communication and technology programmes, Cornerstone Ministries is expected to train 70 inmates and 30 correctional officers at the South Camp Centre.
The overall goal of the project, the organisers said, was to train inmates and correctional officers in information technology in order to enable the former to offer more marketable skills upon their release, as well as to facilitate their holistic development.
The correctional officers too, are expected to become more multi-skilled and qualified for new responsibilities on completion of their training.
The training programme includes:
* computer skills;
* information technology;
* computer repairs to the technical certification level;
* graphic art and computer-aided designing; digital audio and videography, including its roles in music, broadcasting and in the arts;
* entrepreneurial studies and small business management;
* support subjects like Civics and History; and
* ethical and moral Christian training.
Cornerstone Ministries is expected to implement all seven courses within the normal routine of the South Camp Centre, and will be granted access to the required facilities and personnel, including, where eligible, inmates for placement on work/study release programmes.
The project will also include both pre-release and post-release work/study programmes and Cornerstone Ministries has undertaken to network with at least 10 organisations which are expected to offer employment and training under the project.
Acting Commissioner Earl Fearon signed the MOU on behalf of the Department of Correctional Services while Cornerstone Ministries’ director, Randy Finnikin and the organisation’s principal and special projects administrator, Alton Grizzle, signed for the NGO.
Fearon for his part, described the project as being “the sort of initiative that was capable of taking rehabilitation to a much higher level” within the correctional system and pledged full support for the project.
The Cornerstone team, in the meanwhile, said the challenge for the organisation was to now secure the remaining funding for the project. Noting that a portion of the 75 per cent had already been secured — including a significant contribution in the form of computers from Grace, Kennedy & Company Limited and support from Jamaica Broilers for the administrative needs of the NGO — Grizzle said there was still a significant monetary gap to be closed.
“We feel if we can meet these inmates part-way in the institutions and facilitate a change in their lives, then when they return to society, they would more likely have returned as changed persons who, instead of coming to you and pointing a gun, would be coming to you and pointing a certificate, saying ‘I am qualified in data operations, I am seeking a job’,” noted Grizzle.
“And so we are appealing to corporate Jamaica and even the church which has been working in the institutions over the years. If you want a structured programme to contribute to come and join us in this initiative,” Grizzle said.
He added that the facilitation of eligible inmates on work/study programmes within business organisations would be a critical component towards the success of the overall project and that this was an area in which the stakeholders were seeking corporate support.
“The approach is to utilise information, communication and technology as a rehabilitation tool inside the institution, hence, the development of this comprehensive programme focusing on an occupational approach to information technology,” Grizzle said.