KINGSTON, Jamaica — Human rights group Stand Up for Jamaica (SUFJ) has increased its partnership with the Ministry of National Security (MNS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) for the continuation of rehabilitation programmes in the Fort Augusta; Tower Street; St Catherine and South Camp correctional facilities.

SUFJ — a non-governmental organisation which volunteers in the island’s correctional facilities — will be partnering with the MNS to roll out a formalised programme of rehabilitation dubbed Fresh Start.

The Fresh Start programme, through funding support from the European Union (EU), aims to provide a holistic approach to rehabilitation by filling the gaps in previous rehabilitative initiatives.

The programme will last for three years and will move inmates through six pathways of rehabilitative activities.

These include education through remedial and Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) classes; vocational and life-skills training; counselling and treatment; mentorship; medical care and research.

State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Pearnel Charles Jr, explained that the Fresh Start programme was conceptualised as a more modernised approach to rehabilitation of inmates.

“The Fresh Start programme represents the strengthening of our partnerships as well as the continuation and expansion of critical activities that form part of our national strategy for purposeful rehabilitation and successful reintegration of our inmates,” he said.

Fresh Start, which has a $45-million funding, is designed to address the criminogenic needs of offenders who upon successful completion of the rehabilitative pathways will be well equipped for their reintegration as law abiding and productive members of society.

Head of the European Union Delegation to Jamaica, Malgorzata Wasilewska argued that effective rehabilitation is critical to any effort to reduce reoffending by prisoners after their release.

“This programme gives people who genuinely want to improve their lives a chance to do so by providing education and skills training. With these tools, they are better equipped to overcome some of the obstacles that hinder their prospects for employment and job creation upon release; and set them on a path to becoming responsible citizens,” she said.

SUFJ Executive Director Carla Gullotta noted that the partnership with the MNS and the EU will serve to improve the organisation’s ability to provide more effectives rehabilitation programmes that will contribute to the reduction of crime in the country.