There is a need for more psychologists and psychiatrists within the local prison system.
This is according to Assistant Superintendant of Prisons Julian Clarke, who was at the speaking on WE FM’s Activated Morning program, about rehabilitation of prisoners.
Assistant Superintendant Clarke that assessment of prisoners by these professionals could help prevent them from falling back into the same cycle that landed them in prison in the first place.
“Let’s say someone is in prison as a result of drug abuse, or gang related activities, once they are in prison, we somewhat fail to address that trigger, the reason why they are there. We would teach them a skill but we would not teach them so much per se, how to get out the drug abuse, we do it on a very small scale but not on a scale that can be really impactful. So yes, there is a need for more psychologists, more psychiatrists within the prison system to address these critical areas that need urgent attention, because what we are doing under the guise rehabilitation, we are teaching them skills, sending them back out into the very conditions that would have brought them in the first place,” he said.
Assistant Superintendant Clarke said as it pertains to the rehabilitation of prisoners within the prisons of St. Vincent and the Grenadines there is still a lot of work to be done.
