KINGSTON, Jamaica – Thirty-six inmates of the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre have been provided with birth certificates through the ‘Operation Birthright’ project.

They are among the first batch of 11,000 Jamaicans, who have been identified to benefit under the programme, which was established to provide an opportunity for Jamaicans who are without a birth certificate to obtain this critical document free of cost.

Speaking at the handover ceremony at the facility in Spanish Town on Wednesday, Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Floyd Green, said the plan is to extend the initiative across the correctional institutions.

“What we have to do is embark on a larger project… to ensure that we seek to identify, in the first instance, those who are willing but do not have a birth certificate and get them that birth certificate,” he said.

“We have already identified that we want [to provide birth certificates to] 11,000 people in this first phase [of the Birthright programme], so even if we say, let us try to get 10 per cent of that, about 1,000 inmates who don’t have their birth certificates, on the programme, that will go a far way,” he said.

Minister Green pointed out that with a birth certificate, persons will be better able to access critical government and business services.

“The birth certificate is critical. To really claim your stake in Jamaica you need your birthright, and that starts with your birth certificate,” he said.

An estimated 200,000 Jamaicans do not have legal proof of identity or a birth certificate.

To be eligible for Operation Birthright, individuals must be born in Jamaica, aged one or above, and have a monthly income of $37,000 or below.

Green informed that, to date, there have been almost 1,000 applications for the project.

Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Zavia Mayne, in his remarks said that the initiative is part of the process of rehabilitating offenders.

“Formalising inmates is also part of our programme and processes that will reduce recidivism. We cannot continue to have inmates in our facilities that exist without a birth certificate,” he said.

Mayne commended the inmates for taking the first step in formalising their reintegration into society by their voluntary application to receive a birth certificate.

Deputy Commissioner, Rehabilitation and Probation After Care Services, Department of Correctional Service (DCS), Dr Marc Thomas, thanked the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) for partnering with the entity in providing the inmates with the vital documents.

“Our aim is to reduce recidivism. Everything that we do is geared towards that end and anything and everything that plays a role in ensuring that persons are able to reintegrate into society as productive law-abiding citizens,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Keeper of Records, RGD, Charlton McFarlane, said the programme seeks to provide an avenue for persons operating on the outer fringes to access essential social services, health, and educational opportunities by obtaining a birth certificate.

“Under the programme, the most vulnerable in our society will benefit by obtaining their birth certificate [free of cost]… . Today, with the issuing of these birth certificates, we are on course to fulfilling a major requirement of full and wholesome reintegration of [these persons] into society,” he said.

Operation Birthright falls under the National Identification System (NIDS), which aims to create a unique, reliable and secure method of verifying individuals’ identities.