THE Bordelais Correctional Facility, (BCF) on January 15, celebrated the 12th anniversary of its official opening.The Facility marked a pivotal turning point in the penal history of Saint Lucia.
Over the past years the institution has maintained robust standards for its employees while maintaining a transformative rehabilitative programme for the benefit of inmates.
Officer in Charge of the Bordelais Correctional Facility, Mr. Wayne Charlery, took the opportunity to commend the dedication of the administration and correctional officers, whom he have given unwavering service to the Facility.
“We have made several strides and we’ve had several milestones to reflect on at this time, amidst some challenges, of course. However, we are heartened that our successes far outweigh our challenges. Among our successes we are happy to report a consistent reduction in our recidivists’ rate. We would like to credit our rehabilitation and education programmes, for enabling us to make major headway in that area.
“I think the public is well aware of the opportunity provided for inmates to acquire basic literacy, life skills and write CXC examinations. We have, apart from this, several other programmes, workshops, arts and craft, sports and in–house activities ongoing at the prison at any given time to help inmates remain constructively engaged. We introduced the prison Video Link System in April 2014. This was a major step which signifies the first installation for a correctional facility within the jurisdiction of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court”.
Charlery noted that as had been done before, the facility will continue its tradition of partnership with both local and international entities to achieve a number of objectives in the short to medium future.
He said: “We have an over–arching mandate which guides our direction and purpose. We want our correctional officers to deliver the professionalism expected with a high degree of morale and so we try our best to attract training opportunities for them, both beyond our shores, and locally. On the other hand, we have the mandate to ensure that inmates can be successfully re–integrated into the society as productive citizens. Might I add that even those inmates, who will be with us more or less permanently, cannot be allowed to languish”.
The BCF recently received a boost in manpower which Charlery says was very timely, particularly since presently the institution has a population of 646 inmates.
“We are happy that some pressing needs in the area of our human resource capacity have been addressed. This we credit to the hard work and commitment of the Minister, Senator, Victor La Corbiniere and our Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security”
“Our anniversary is also a fitting time to acknowledge the role and support of the general public with regard to the BCF as well. The Bordelais Correctional Facility is a part of the community. Evidently we need their support, we can’t do it alone. Our partners are numerous. We believe they know themselves and we would like to convey to them that we are extremely grateful for their contribution to the BCF. We try as much as possible to host an annual Open Day when we invite the public to the prison to showcase what we do here. This initiative has been very well received earning us many positive reviews”.
The prison’s most recent initiative, the Youth Renewal Programme was launched on January 12.