Minister Bastienne visits Montagne Posée prison |12 February 2015

Just over a week in office, the new Minister for Home Affairs, Charles Bastienne, has had his second visit to one of the institutions falling under his ministry, the Montagne Posée prison.

He was accompanied by the superintendent of prisons Maxime Tirant, and other staff of the prison.

“This is my first visit to the Montagne Posée prison and I wanted to familiarise myself with the facility and the management. I also wanted to be aware of the developments and challenges within the prison facilities. After meeting with the senior management of the prison, I am in a better position to set my goals for the short, medium and long terms. Our biggest challenge and that need to be tackled immediately is the shortage of staff. I will spare no time to tackle this major issue. The prison has come a long way, however there is much more to be done and to achieve,” noted the minister.

A powerpoint presentation on the history, development and functioning of the prison was made at the beginning of the visit.

Currently there are 765 prisoners in Seychelles out of whom 611 (including 36 Somalis) are at the Montagne Posée prison. Thirty-six convicts are on Coetivy and 98 are on Marie-Louise.  Minister Bastienne seized the opportunity to ask a few details about the involvement of the convicts in the various programmes available at the prison. Supt. Tirant said the inmates do not take part as much as they would like them to.

“This year we had three inmates who succeeded in an IGCSE English exam and we hope this will encourage others to take part in the activities. We will try our best to reactivate all programmes,” he said.

He also mentioned that during the last few years, all efforts were made for the prison in Seychelles to attain the standard required by the United Nations.
“We are happy that we have been able to achieve this level,” noted the superintendent.

He noted that several projects are ongoing to improve the facilities. These include the extension of the female prison, the renovation of the male block (phase 2), construction of the Praslin juvenile centre, upgrading of the jamming system, video conference system between prison and court, video conference between the three prisons, construction of a search room and creation of the prison’s website.

Upon receiving funding, the prison services will engage in the following projects: intensive recruitment, fencing of prison perimeter, extension of the carpentry and mechanical workshops, construction of facilities for staff training, staff office space, unit for Nepalese officer, and a multi-faith room.
To make the prison function properly, there are various organisations who give a helping hand such as Partners of Prison, Sustainability for Seychelles, Yi-King Seychelles, Friends of Prison and UNODC.

Minister Bastienne spent several hours visiting the prison facilities and took notes on the most important needs of the management and inmates.
 
“I urge the families to understand that the prison is a place where after committing an offence, the person comes to purge his/her sentence and gets rehabilitated to go back to the society. For the last three years, UNODC is collaborating with us to do a rehabilitation programme and we would like the inmates to go through that programme. The government and I give our full support in making the prison a place where we are successful in rehabilitating people and preventing them from repeating the same mistakes,” noted the minister.