… Prison Fellowship Caribbean Forum

THE Prison Fellowship Caribbean Forum has recommended communitywide collaboration among all stakeholders to tackle crime and its effects, at the conclusion of a three-day discussion here.

The forum coordinated by Prison Fellowship Guyana (PFG) took place at the Restoration and Life Ministries Church, South Ruimveldt Gardens on Tuesday evening.
At the opening ceremony remarks were made by Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels; Senior Superintendent of Police Errol Watts and PFG Chairman Alex Graham.
Present, too, were representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Suriname as well as religious leaders from other local denominations.

Graham said while there are several areas to be improved within the force and the prison services, the real change in crime and criminal justice reform must begin at the community level.

He challenged those who travelled to deliberate at the forum to re-examine their tactics and strategies to ensure the Prison Fellowship extends beyond the prison cells.
“I’m beginning to think in a much broader way about prison ministry. I’m beginning to think that prison ministry must not start behind the walls of the prison. Effective ministry to prisons and prisoners must be something that intercepts people before they get into the system.

“There must be things that we can do and it is time for us to sit down and not just regurgitate programmes that have been pre-packaged for us, but we must understand exactly what’s happening in our particular communities and do something to reduce crime and help those people who need it,” he said.
In his address, Samuels said the prison fellowships have many times helped to quell challenging climates within the prisons.
He added that as prisons in Guyana move towards correction and rehabilitation systems, it is important that the environment contributes to positive change.
“This is not an easy task, but it is through organisations like Prison Fellowship International that redemptive hope is either built or restored for those persons who have lost faith. After a life of crime and having being exposed to the consequences of a life of crime, there is need for hope,” he said

Meanwhile, several recommendations came from Watts who called for more positive role models in the country; for ministers to invest more into fighting crime and for education of vulnerable groups and societies.

“We are picking up young people all over this country and we have established systems in the Guyana Police Force where … we get them involved in life skills. We think if they have skills they will be able to make wiser choices.
“We are not doing this with any budget in the Police Force, we are doing this with the corporate citizens of this country, approaching them, and we believe that by doing this we will be able to address the issues that young people face,” he said.
Prison Fellowship Caribbean Forum 2018 will last from May 29 to 31 and is being held under the theme: “Going Forward in Faith: Bridging the Gap in the Caribbean”.