With many Jamaicans griping over footing the half-a-billion-dollar food bill for prison inmates annually, Stand Up For Jamaica’s Executive Director Carla Gullotta is batting for paid apprenticeships for prisoners. However, a former corrections boss says, while this is allowed under Jamaican law, it poses logistical and other challenges, particularly in relation to high-risk convicts.

Gullotta, in a letter to the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday, said, “It is no secret that feeding prisoners has been a vexed issue for Jamaicans over the years, [with] most, if not all, [thinking] that the inmates should work to pay their debt to society and feed themselves.”

She said, though, that the vexed issue has a solution in prison labour, which is common globally and has “shown remarkable results”.

“There have been calls for a better rehabilitation system in Jamaica in an effort to address the issue of recidivism. Without proper rehabilitation Jamaica will continue to face the crime crisis they face today. As a society we need to address the culture where we believe that criminals cannot be rehabilitated. This mindset makes returning to normal society an uphill task. Maintaining prison labour that gives prisoners jobs helps them to earn to fund their prison stay and also gives them skills in finding legitimate work upon release,” the rights advocate said.

Former Commissioner of Corrections Major Richard Reese, commenting on the proposal, said he was in agreement, but argued that it was not as clear-cut.

“The law makes provision for what she is saying. That regime is inbuilt. Just like her, I agree that prisoners should work, but when you put something into practice sometimes it’s not always possible. For an internal work regime you wouldn’t really have much of a problem if you have sufficient work. Like you have sanitation, farming, the kitchen, you have the tailor shop, etcetera, so some of that exists,” Major Reese said.

“When you go for external work programmes you have to look at low-risk inmates because you can’t have the high-risk prisoners out there, and if you have the medium- to high-risk prisoners as well the cost of the security arrangements, the external transportation [is another factor],” added Reese, who served as commissioner of corrections from June 2003 to November 2008.

“Let’s say you are taking them to bush a highway, which I have done in my time. When you look at the logistical and security arrangements and costs because of the profile of the inmates available to work, you would not be able to deploy them because of the cost, and regrettably, the vast number of murder of inmates, even if they are not on life sentences, their security classification is such that the risk factor would warrant certain levels of security,” he noted.

“So let’s say you are going to bush the cemetery by the Horizon Remand [Centre], you don’t need much logistical support because it’s right beside the prison, but if you are going to bush a highway you have to get them there, you have to supervise the work and you have to have a security team. Oftentimes the public at large will sit back and say these people are there, we are feeding them, etcetera, but you would now have to have prison industries in order to engage them,” he told the Observer.

Reese said there were several options that would have to be considered to create real change.

“For example, we would now have to look at garment manufacturing to supply a given market. If you look at China, for instance, China has very huge prison industries. You have to also look at economies of scale in terms of what is cost effective and practical,” he said.

According to Reese, what Gullotta is pointing to is the rehabilitation philosophy and general policy. “But when you put it into practice now [it requires a lot more]. Sometimes you have to be careful that your emotions don’t trigger your convictions. You visit every day and you say these people are not engaged, but it also takes a certain amount of capital in order to bring that into practice,” he pointed out.

The current infrastructure and building of the prisons, except for the South Camp Road facility in the Corporate Area, he said, are not purpose-built.

“They may have been purpose-built in the 1800s, but they are certainly not purpose-built for efficiency. There has always been debate about building new correctional facilities. There are political considerations, but if you were to modernise the infrastructure, maybe in five, six years, you would recover the capital cost because your operational costs, in terms of staffing, utilities, security, etcetera, would be far less,” he said.

“When they used to take out [prisoners] to do the quarrying work out by Rockfort, in those days it was more geared toward being penal or punitive; it wasn’t necessarily business-compliant. Some people’s perspective is, get them out there in the sun and work them, but you have to look at [whether] this is beneficial, who is this beneficial to, and what is the outcome?” he told the Observer.

He said he shared Gullotta’s view that a prison labour programme would require infrastructure and guaranteed market and economies of scale. “It would be training, production, and profitability. It doesn’t have to be highly profitable, but turn over.”

In the meantime, he said it is for the State to show the political will to move forward with plans to build new facilities which have been mooted across administrations.

“The key thing is a critical policy position to commit to building a new facility, which can be done on a phased basis. It would reduce the utilities [and] the staff-to-inmate ratio,” Reese said.

“My greatest fear when I was commissioner was that if there was ever an earthquake or a fire, because of the aged infrastructure. I know that would have been catastrophic, both for staff and inmates,” he said.

Earlier this year the Observer found that in 2020 it cost $13,000 to feed one inmate per month, and the island’s prison population currently amounts to just about 3,700. The revised Estimates of Expenditure for the current financial year shows a food bill of $527,374,000, with that figure expected to rise to $581,431,000 for the coming financial year 2022/2023 for diet charges.

There are two farm prisons in Jamaica — Tamarind Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Catherine and Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Mary. But sources told the Observer that there is very little taking place in terms of work and productivity on the farms, which mostly lie fallow.

In the meantime, at least one correctional officer has raised concerns about the dietary needs of inmates who suffer from diabetes and/or hypertension.

“We are supposed to have nutritionists and doctors who screen and make recommendations for certain inmates with medical conditions. But, from what I have observed, they are just fed what is there and the daily menu leaves a lot to be desired,” the correctional officer said.

On Tuesday Gullotta said, “It’s time to re-examine the message we are currently sending to and about some of the most vulnerable members of our society through the prison food system. Food is an integral part of our human existence. It nourishes us, communicates who we are, our relationships, and reflects our values.”