BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MORE often than not, after prison sentences have been served and the rehabilitation process would have been successfully completed, residents of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) have difficulty finding gainful employment because society refuses to give them that “second chance”.
Superintendent of Prisons Junie Hodge is making a plea, however, for members of the public to, rather than judge these individuals by their past deeds, assess them in their “now”.
Hodge and his Deputy, Asheila Connor – as well as a resident of Her Majesty’s Prison - appeared on a recent taping of SKNVibes’ ‘Bottom Line’ which addressed the goings on at the correctional facility.
The panelists spoke of rehabilitative processes which take the form of life skills coaching, education etc.
Asked by host Stanford Conway if the authorities at HMP would be willing to provide recommendation for some of these job-seeking residents after they would have left the institution, the Superintendent answered in the affirmative.
“Precisely; because we would have watched these individuals go through the programme step by step (and get) the necessary counseling so we would be in a position to state categorically, 'I would give this individual a chance'.”
Hodge took it a step further and informed that at least two former residents of HMP are employed at a business he owns and he said he has no complaints about their performance.
“Furthermore I have a company myself and I have at least two former residents of Her Majesty’s Prison who work for me. And when you compare these two individuals' work ethics to (others)…I cannot complain, I cannot complain. They are always on time, they are respectful not only to myself (but) to my clients and to the general public at large. Why? Because they would have been given a second chance and they don’t want to fail themselves and those who would have given them a second chance. So they are going to do their best to show us that they deserve that second chance.
“And we are simply asking the general public to give the residents of the institution – after they would have left the institution – a second chance. Judge a man based on his now, not on his past. Because there is nothing you can do about the past…it has already happened…”
Superintendent Hodge also asked the public to refrain from applying labels to these former residents, noting that that is a wrong thing to do.
