Rehabilitate offenders for a better society |11 March 2014

Offenders can change and dangerous people should be managed.

This is the key message Lisa Parker of the West Yorkshire Probation Trust is sending out to local probation, police and prison officers and all those involved in rehabilitation of prisoners and who are taking part in a five-day probation services training programme.

Perhaps the best way to support and rehabilitate offenders is to understand their needs and this is just what the delegates will be touching on during the training which Ms Parker said will be a very interactive one.

“You will be telling me what you are doing, what the reality of Seychelles is. We (the United Kingdom) have experience but not everything we have done is good. I will show you what has worked for us and some of the models,” said Ms Parker who briefed the delegates about the history of probation in the UK.

“We have tried, failed and learned through different legislations over 100 years and counting,” she said, adding that probation officers should work on bringing down the rate of re-offending.

The training designed to strengthen offender management services, offender rehabilitation and community reconciliation opened yesterday afternoon at the Reflecs-3 (formerly Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecution and Intelligence Coordination Centre or Rappicc) in the presence of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports Minister Vincent Meriton who is also the Designated Minister, British high commissioner Lindsay Skoll, Police Commissioner Ernest Quatre and Prisons superintendent Maxime Tirant.

Mrs Skoll was overwhelmed with the turnout and thanked all the delegates who come from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports, Seychelles National Youth Council, Ministry of Education, Montagne Posée prison, Seychelles Police, Friends of Prison Association and different religious denominations.

Speaking to the local media, Mrs Skoll said: “The reason why the probation services expert is here is not that there is something wrong. It is basically to share experience, to create a conversation in Seychelles and bring ministries together. It is very much about sharing with you what has worked in the UK and what has not. So it is not about imposing a new system or new ideas.
 
It is about enabling a creative brainstorming to take place. It is making everybody involved in making a better society address the serious issue about what to do with offenders, re-offenders and how to turn something that is a negative to a positive to society, and to look at different ways of dealing with criminals and not only sending people to prison.”

Designated Minister Meriton thanked Mrs Skoll for bringing Ms Parker to Seychelles and said her presence here comes at an opportune time as more emphasis is being placed on working with prisoners and those who might be on the verge of heading to prison.

“Ms Parker’s presence here is to share with us the experience the United Kingdom has gone through, what has worked for them. She will learn what is working in Seychelles and also the weaknesses.
 
This will help us improve the service delivered. She will also look at our legal framework, the institutions in place, the laws in place, our human resources, do we have enough people working in this sector and are they well trained?, are we working together for a better service. It is important that we reinforce the prison, probation services, work with schools, work with prisoners and those who are expected to be released so that they can re-integrate well into society,” said Minister Meriton.

“This is a dialogue and the second stage is to see if there is a need to bring in experts to train people working with offenders. We are now thinking of community service and how best to implement it so that it becomes effective. Offenders should not always be sent to prison, community service is a good way of helping them get back to their senses. This will help reduce the prison population. The government has approved the law in principle but now the Office of the Attorney General is working on drafting the laws to be presented to the National Assembly,” added Minister Meriton.

The training is funded by the British high commission and is part of its ongoing support for the Seychelles criminal justice system.