Dear Editor,
I have noted with great interest that His Excellency, President David Arthur Granger has granted dozens of youngsters and women, amnesty for various reasons.
I have also noted that the Food For The Poor entity for over a decade now, has been coming forward to pay fines for persons incarcerated for minor criminal offences, and are unable to pay their fines. Both initiatives are laudable, and compliments should be heaped on our President, and the Food For The Poor entity.
However, I do not think the amnesty should just be by fiat, but must come with a very serious responsibility, and also training. Please note the following recommendations:
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No prisoner should be set free without the signing of a contract. Should they breach the terms of the contract, they could be re-arrested to serve out their time, with an additional 10 per cent or 20 per cent added to it. This is to create a fear factor.
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The released prisoner must not feel that they are fully free, and should be made to report to the Commanders, or a designated officer at Police stations in their various communities.
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They should have certain relatives, friends or even priests, who would sign on their behalf, and take responsibility to help in their supervision and rehabilitation. However, in fairness to the persons accepting supervision/partial supervision, at no time should these persons be held legally or financially responsible, should any released prisoner abscond or misbehave.
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Before being released, such prisons should be made to undergo a motivational seminar created for their level of education. Their participation should be made compulsory, and their skills and knowledge must be investigated before programming for possible employment.
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If they did not serve long enough to have mastered a trade in prison, they must sign onto the contract (see number one above), to attend a training programme at an identified facility. This facility can be a bakery, welding shop, mechanic shop, etc.
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The participatory professional, or service business, can be given a recognised certificate of participation, that can be displayed on their walls, to establish the fact that, they believe in good corporate citizenship, and wish to assist youthful offenders, by giving them a second chance.
Boot Camp
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All prisoners slated for release should undergo a ‘semi-militarised boot camp’ for at least two weeks involving all aspects of drills, survival techniques, athletics, debates, and even involvement in trades, in order to feel and ascertain their skills. It has been proven that this kind of ‘boot camp’, or enhancement personality training, call it as you may, works excellently in the USA, Canada, and Europe. The boot camp should be tough and powerful, to help bring out from the core of their hearts and souls: goodness, beauty and power. Of course, they should not be trained in the use of fire arms, but trained in self defence and ‘hand to hand combat’ for disciplinary purposes, which will also discipline the mind.
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These individuals should be encouraged to teach the skills learned to fellow youths in their communities, thus, making them positive mentors and personalities in their various communities. This will give them feelings of accomplishment and contribution to society.
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In addition to reporting to the Police, the released prisoners should have a volunteer mentor in their various communities that they should visit periodically for counselling. These mentors can be: retired teachers, headmasters/headmistresses, Justice of the Peace, retired Police Officers, retired bankers, and decent professional business and trade representatives, etc.
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There is so much more that I can add to the above. I leave the rest to the imagination of the authorities.