Scott and Mason

A joint report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank has recommended that Jamaica establish an Office for the Resettlement of Deportees, to help reduce the possibility of deportees resorting to a life of crime when they return home.

It also recommended that industrial countries, such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, provide subsidisation for the reintegration of deportees into the society.

In a section of the report entitled 'Criminal Deportation and Jamaica', a case study looked at several studies and statistics surrounding deportation of offenders in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and how it is linked to criminality in Jamaica.

2,700 convicts a year

According to the report, between 2001 and 2004, Jamaica absorbed an average of 2,700 convicts a year from the three countries mentioned.

The document, however, said that, according to data available, it could not be established that deportees contribute significantly to crime in Jamaica. It, however, said that "in small countries it does not take a large number of offenders to have a large impact, particularly if they assume a leadership role in criminal gangs on their return. Specifically with regard to drug trafficking, their transnational connections and criminal experience could make criminal deportees well suited for this role."

With this in mind, the study cited the CARICOM Regional Task Force on Crime and Security recommendation for the establishment of an office which provides counselling and offers assistance in finding jobs, locating housing and using social services.

backed the call

Evelyn Mason, executive director for Land of My Birth Association, has backed the report's call for the establishment of such a centre. Ms. Mason's organisation helps persons who have been deported to readjust to life in Jamaica.

"It is very important to have an organisation as this. We need this to reintegrate them back in society, because when many of them return they are disoriented, traumatised," she told The Gleaner. "They need counselling as they feel lost because they leave when they are eight and return when they are in their 40s."

Gilbert Scott, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, told The Gleaner that the recommendation for the establishment of such an office was included in a study done by the ministry. He, however, said that it, along with other recommendations to deal with the deportation situation, was still being looked at.