Food for the Poor sets 18 prisoners free for Easter
FOOD for the Poor (FFP), over the past two days, has paid fines amounting to over $350,000 for 18 prisoners in time for them to spend Easter with their families.
“I’d love to see all of you come back here, but not as inmates, but rather as an inspiration and beacons of light to the men you’ll be leaving here today, Bradley Finzi-Smith, executive director of Food for the Poor, told 16 of the inmates yesterday.
“I want for you to go out there and make positive plan for your lives.”
The 16 were released today from the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre in Spanish Town, while the other two were released the previous Monday from Richmond in St Mary.
The men, who were fined by the court for different offences, had remained in prison because they could not afford the monetary penalty.
The sums ranged from $6,000 to $50,000, said Sandra Ramsay, head of FFP’s Prison Release Ministry.
Under the release programme, in its second year, FFP fronts the money to free prisoners and has so far helped about 100 of them.
