Prison Service shifts focus to corrections

Shastri Boodan

The Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service is moving to transform the prison system from one focused on incarceration to one centred on rehabilitation and reintegration.

Acting Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe made the comment on Thursday during the signing of a Strategic Partnership Agreement between YTEPP, the American Medical Certification Association and Vision on Mission.

Corraspe said the partnership would help reduce reoffending by providing inmates with skills and support needed to successfully return to society.

“We want strategically to move from prisons to corrections,” he said.

Corraspe explained that while prisons protect society by ensuring offenders serve their sentences, correctional services aim to address the factors contributing to criminal behaviour.

He said incarceration alone protects the public only for the duration of an offender’s sentence.

“If we are able to transition from prison to correction, and we are able to reduce those criminogenic risks through rehabilitative programming, then we are able to protect society not just for the five years, but the five years plus when they leave,” Corraspe said.

He identified antisocial behaviour, criminal associations, drug abuse, mental health issues and poor employability as factors linked to offending.

Corraspe said Vision on Mission and YTEPP have worked with the Prison Service for years, providing pre-release programmes and vocational training in areas including carpentry, plumbing, electrical installation, culinary arts, information technology and entrepreneurship.

He said the new partnership would strengthen those programmes, but rehabilitation must be supported by employment, housing and counselling after release.

“That is why this MOU is so important,” he said. “The work of Vision on Mission and YTEPP coming together… is something that we are very happy about today.”

Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training Senator Professor Prakash Persad said the agreement represents an investment in people seeking a second chance.

“Real development must also be measured by how we treat those at the margins, those seeking a second chance, those navigating reintegration and those determined to rebuild their lives,” Persad said.

He said the initiative provides practical skills, internationally recognised certification and pathways to employment.

“Employment is more than income. It is identity, it is stability, and it is one of the strongest predictors of successful reintegration,” Persad said.

Persad called on employers and other stakeholders to support rehabilitation efforts by creating opportunities for former offenders.

“Empowerment does not end with training. It must extend into real opportunities in the workforce and in entrepreneurship,” he said.