THE FREQUENT escapes from our island lock-ups and penal correctional facilities bring regular criticism, but when there is significant success, those in charge must also be commended. One such significant achievement was the 'Family Day' visit to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, over a week ago, when children were allowed to accompany adults (mothers, grand-mothers, aunts and other relatives) to see their incarcerated fathers, brothers and uncles.
Children are not allowed to visit inmates, so it was a significant event for it showed the kind of 'thinking outside the box' innovation, that needs to be done, since it works to reduce security costs. It will take a cold-hearted man, who on seeing other inmates receive such visits from family, while he has no such support (if he has burnt all his ties), who will not think twice about what he has done and the circumstances that he now finds himself in. By showing this family link, it helps to reduce tensions in a brutal environment and helps to perpetuate the reward system for those who conform with the rules of the Centre, while they are incarcerated. Those who escape, to just visit their relatives, may think if it is worth it to be on the run, rather than wait for the 'Family Day' visit, and let us hope that this special day is increased to more than once a year.
CAPTURING
That aside, we also have to think about how we can improve penal security since it makes no sense to have difficulties capturing violent criminals and then having even more difficulty trying to retain them. How many times have you heard of a pick-pocket escaping from a prison or lock-up? No, it's with felonies like murder, or attempted murder, or rape or armed robbery, or firearms possession.
First things is to re-institute the coloured clothing that can help us to identify a convict or a remanded person. It used to be the case that convicted felons wore a distinctive garb, but with the financial crisis affecting all areas, this has broken down. We need to re-institute it for the public's own safety, regardless of cries of loss of individual rights. Electronic ankle bracelets also need to be placed on the most violent offenders for their movement to and from the courts, for the many times that cases are called up, before proceeding to trial.
We also need to explain to each inmate, what privileges they will lose if they misbehave in the system (such as less visits from relatives, outside food allowed, letter privileges for those who can write), should they damage the facilities, warders or other inmates, and what privileges they will gain if they behave, including access to radio (but not to a television set, unless in a centrally controlled area). This is different from just beating an inmate if he does not respond.
We also need to train our warders to 'buy into' the rehabilitative system to help those inmates who want to be rehabilitated. There are some inmates however, who are a danger to warders, other inmates and the society, that we will always have a problem in dealing with, as long as capital punishment is in abeyance.
