18 prison staff confirmed in post |18 August 2020
Group photo of a number of staff confirmed in post
• Pledge to dedicate themselves to improved service delivery
The Seychelles Prison Service (SPS) has welcomed 18 Seychellois staff after successfully completing their probationary phase.
They were confirmed in their post in a ceremony held yesterday at the SPS headquarters at Montagne Posée.
The newly confirmed staff presented themselves for a short drill and inspection, before they each signed the prison service ‘Code of Ethics’, this before the Superintendent of Prisons, Superintendent Raymond St Ange, and other assembled officers.
Following the short ceremony, the staff were posted back to their assigned units and departments as follows – one officer to Supply & Logistics as a driver; four officers to the Prison Security Unit; five officers to the Custodial Department and assigned to various residential inmate units; one officer to Maintenance Department; one officer to the Prison Escort Unit (understanding that as of April 1, 2020 the prison service took over the responsibility of escorting remands from the Seychelles Police); one officer to the Internal Assurance & Quality Department, and to the newly established role of court liaison officer; two officers to the Detention Remand Facility located at Bois de Rose; one officer to the Rehabilitation Department; two other staff to the Superintendent’s secretariat.
It should be noted that all staff have at this time been scheduled to take an online prison officer course offered by the UNODC, and have started to take same as of August 10, 2020. This online course offering an ‘E learning’ experience covers the ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’ for the humane treatment of prisoners. Staff have also been taking other short courses offered at The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI).
Staff having successfully completed the online UNODC course will receive their certificates at a ceremony to be held at the auditorium of the University of Seychelles on August 21, 2020. On this day the prison service will observe ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’, a UN standard adopted by many prison services around the world and which covers the management and care of inmates, be they juveniles, women or men. It is expected that all staff will have completed the online course by mid-November 2020.
“This is an exciting period for the prison service noting its operating theme for the year being, ‘Towards a professional prison service’. The confirmation to post for the eighteen new staff therefore adds value to the service and further positions itself as a potential area of employment and a career for serious Seychellois wanting to protect and serve the Seychellois nation,” says a communiqué from the SPS.
Press release from the SPS
Photo sources: SPS
