BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRISONERS of Her Majesty’s Prison were treated to a Fun Day on Monday, May, 28, (Whit Monday) when they engaged in a number of sporting activities.
In speaking with the Superintendent of the Prisons, Franklin Dorset, he informed that it was the third year such an activity was held and that it was a way to ease the stress of the prisoners.
He said that the prison is overcrowded with some 300 plus inmates and that some of the areas where rehabilitation classes, such as joinery, carpentry, and tailoring, were practised had to be converted into cells.
“So we have very little room for rehabilitation programmes and with 300 plus persons in the prison it’s just a lot of frustration and anger and so on, so we decided that at least once per year we’ll get together and have a Fun day,” he said.
Dorset said that the Fun Day will aid in reducing the stress level of inmates which increases due to the fact that they are ‘locked up’ and it will also encourage a better relationship between the officers and the inmates because we have to work together.
“So during that Fun day we have competitions - basketball, cricket, soccer, draft, dominoes, chess - and we introduced recently a singing competition. This is at no cost to the Government. There are friends of the Prison who contributed in kind, in terms of drinks, food, or animals and we do the cooking,” Dorset said.
He said that a committee came together including inmates and officers to plan the Fun Day and that depending on the behaviour of the inmates they may have the event twice per year.
In their efforts to continue raising the profile of positive efforts taking place in the area of youth, crime and violence in the Federation, members of Operation Future were also a part of the Fun Day.
According to a release from Operation Future, the activities also included a Calypso Competition among the inmates who wrote their own lyrics and some even performed for the first time.
“The messages were about mistakes made and their consequences and they encouraged others to learn from their mistakes and not follow in their footsteps. In every case the lyrics were extremely powerful and the message positive,” the release stated.
Operation Future believes that if inmates do not have the opportunity to improve, then after serving their sentence and they are released into society with no more education or skills than what they entered with, that after being housed like animals, they will be released as angry individuals and the result may be a continued cycle of violence.
“Programmes like this Fun Day give inmates a positive release, develops character and positive self-esteem, thus making Mr. Dorset and his staff’s jobs easier. The benefits of education programmes are clear; inmates leave the institution with skills making it easier for them to change their lives,” the release added.
Operation Future is also reaching out to the general public asking for support for these initiatives. Educational materials are needed, as well as the participation of teachers in the Federation through the volunteering of their time to assist more inmates to achieve not only higher academic standards, but in many cases the very basics of reading and writing.
