Over the last two years, the number of parolees in Jamaica has more than doubled.

In fact, these ex-prisoners have been moving on with their lives despite the many challenges associated with reintegrating in society.

“Five years ago we were at 200, but in the last two years we have been over 400 parolees,” Charmaine Holness, community service order and parole coordinator at the Department of Correctional Services, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

She said, as of the end of June this year, there were 447 ex-convicts on parole islandwide.

Coupled with the increase, Holness said very few parolees are returning to the prison system.

“We have very limited amount of persons being recalled. We have not had any recall this year, and for last year we have had only one person,” she said.

However, Holness was quick to point out that she could not speak of those parolees who have completed their time, as they are no longer mandated to report to officers and are only picked up by the system if they re-offend and are arrested.

When asked what has accounted for the increase, she said: “I think the legislators and policymakers have looked at things differently and are finding other ways to get persons on parole. We are catching up with the rest of the world and are realising locking up people for a long time is not really the best solution.”

Holness said, too, that the success of the parole programme is an extension of the success of the prison’s rehabilitation programme.

“A lot of programmes that deal with life skills [help with] how you survive life, how you manage anger, how you deal with relationships. They may not come back with money, but they do come back with a different mindset, and that is most important,” she said.

Insisting that support from family and friends is a key factor in the success of the parole programme, the parole coordinator moved to encourage relatives of parolees to work with them through their struggles to help change their mindset.

Holness was speaking to the Observer following the Department of Correctional Services Parolee Entrepreneurial Forum at the Portmore Probation Office on Port Henderson Road in St Catherine.

The forum, which was held under the theme ‘Going Forward in Confidence’, was attended by 28 parolees who were awarded with gifts for their commitment to the programme.

Parole Supervisor Sharon Cooper, who came up with the idea for the forum, told the gathering that poor parenting and early truancy are among the primary reasons for many people ending up on the wrong path.

However, she said through the parole programme they are being encouraged to use the resources available to them, such as literacy classes and sessions on parenting skills, anger management, dispute resolution, and communication skills.

Cooper said, too, that one of the main challenges for parolees is a lack of employment opportunities, which can influence a person to participate in illegal activities for income.

“When poverty and crime are allowed to fester, and citizens have a sense that those wounds will never be tended to, it often pushes them to violent extremes,” she said.

Cooper said parolees are therefore exposed to the relevant information and events, such as the forum, which can assist them in planning and creating their own employment opportunity.

The parole supervisor said of the 32 parolees at the Portmore branch, only 13 are employed but they are all willing and determined to be self-reliant.

The parolees who were present were empowered and encouraged not to lose hope but to press on in becoming better people by representatives from Heart Trust/NTA, COK Credit Union, Rural Agriculture Development Authority, as well as executives from the Department of Correctional Services.