EDITORIAL

There was a time in Jamaica when someone who was sent to prison would be referred to as "gone a wukhouse". This, of course, referred to the hard labour that they would do while incarcerated.

However, in more recent times the 'wukhouse' seems to have become a destination of, if not luxury then certainly, a more leisurely stay than was originally envisioned, complete with creature comforts like cellphones for those inmates with a greater capacity and leverage for access to the devices than usual.

We were happy, then, to report the success of the rehabilitation programmes which allow inmates time out of their incarceration to work on environmental programmes. A story in yesterday's Gleaner, under the headline 'Outside work cuts down inmate violence', gave not only insight into the public work programme for prison inmates but also the tri-fold effect that it has had.

While it is easy to concentrate on the decrease of violence in the prisons, as stated by June Spence-Jarrett, deputy commissioner of corrections and custodial services, and well-needed cleaning up of places like the Fort Augusta Correctional Centre, we should not overlook the third effect, that on the prisoners themselves. As one Tamarind Farm inmate who was working on Fort Augusta's grounds told The Gleaner, "I like the opportunity of being out here working with the other inmates. I have achieved more self-esteem; the more we work, the better we feel."

rehabilitation

And there we have it. The connections between manual labour and teamwork, between feeling a sense of purpose and self-esteem, that lead to a decrease in violence. That is rehabilitation literally and figuratively at work.

We fear, though, that there is precious little (at least, that is publicly known) of this rehabilitation effort in the prison system. Apart from the Students Expressing Truth (SET) programme, established along with Kevin Wallen who has been a tireless advocate for the computer training and music production set-up at the Tower Street and St Catherine adult correctional centres and this outside work programme, there seems to be very little to give inmates a sustained sense of self-worth.

The aim of incarceration, save in the most extreme of cases where the convict is sentenced to death (which effectively translates to lifetime imprisonment in our current situation), must be to turn out persons who are better behaved than and have a different mindset from when they entered the system. And work, labour that produces something which a person can say he was a part of creating, is key to that.

After all, productive work cannot be a punishment. That would make the hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans who toil diligently to make a living convicts of sorts.

So, while it is commendable that the outside work programme is on in the prison system, we would like to see it expanded (of course, with the necessary security measures in place), so that more persons end their sentences with a sense of what is possible through constructive application of brain and brawn, changing not only what is around them but, more important themselves.