Prison inmates set to work on outer islands |20 February 2021

(L to r) Mr Lionnet, Mr Savy. Minister Fonseka and Supt. St Ange during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Jude Morel)

Low risk convicts at the Montagne Posée prison will once again get the opportunity to work on the outer islands as part of the IDC rehabilitation project.

The announcement was made yesterday in a joint press interview by the Minister for Internal Affairs Errol Fonseca, the chief executive of IDC Glenny Savy, the deputy CEO of IDC Christian Lionnet and the Superintendent of Prison, Raymond St Ange.

“A memorandum of understanding was signed earlier this week which gives prisoners with good behaviour the opportunity to work in the developing agricultural sector on Coetivy and other islands,” said the minister.

He added that the government is putting a lot of emphasis on the agricultural sector so this programme will not only rehabilitate the prisoners but also give them certain skills in that sector such as farming and animal rearing.

The programme is being run by the Prisons Department Authority in collaboration with the IDC and its aim is to give the convicts the opportunity to be productive in society while serving their time. It also serves to help the prisoners in their rehabilitation in a different environment.

“This is not the first time that the programme is being run, we have learned from the past programmes and we have fixed the issues that we had in the past such as human resources,” the minister said.

Mr Savy added to what the minister said by noting that in the past they had human resource issues for the rehabilitation programme so along with the prison authority they decided to put the project on hold and look back on the issues to try and fix them.

“We have reviewed the way we will be running the programme and we expect that the programme will be successful and rehabilitate good prisoners,” said Mr Savy.

He added that they are also rehabilitating youths that have been suffering from social ills and at the moment they have a few on the island including two boys rehabilitating alongside their mother.

“I would also like to add that we have an agreement to conduct a similar programme on other outer islands such as Desroches which we are using for farming as it has a similar soil composition and climate as Coetivy island,” he added.

Mr Savy said that this programme will offer the prisoners marketable skills that will help them once they leave prison.

The programme will be run by Mr Lionnet, who noted that prisoners on the programme will have the opportunity to contribute to the agricultural development of these islands.

“This project will give the opportunity to selected convicts to take part. This will make them more responsible and support the national development programme on outer islands, which is in the interest of all Seychellois,” said Mr Lionnet.

The project is set to officially begin in March with a group of six prisoners who will be chosen through criteria that have been set by the prison. They will then spend a few weeks on the island before another batch of prisoners is sent.

In total twenty to twenty-five prisoners will be sent to the island, a number that can be well managed as noted by Mr Lionnet.

Regarding the project, Supt. St Ange said that the prison welcomes the initiative as similar projects such as the Phoenix programme have been successful.

“You always hear the negatives about prison life, like I always say everything has its negative and positive sides. Convicts are humans and should be given a chance to reform and change their lives and go back into society,” said Supt. St Ange.

He added that the money made by the inmates while working goes towards their family or towards their fines.

When it comes to security, the superintendent noted that they are confident in the behaviour of the selected inmates.

“Only low risk prisoners will be chosen and we will also have prison guards that will be working alongside IDC staff,” he said.

All administration and support during the project will be provided by IDC and not the government. The project will also not be entirely agricultural as it will also focus on rearing of animals, aquaculture and construction.

Mr Savy added that they also plan to grow vegetables that we import from other countries such as onion and ginger.

Christophe Zialor