Rotary Club makes donation to Seychelles prison |16 March 2021

The handover of the donation (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The Rotary Club of Seychelles has donated 300 masks and 6 fans to the Seychelles Prison.

This donation was made yesterday at the Montagne Posée prison and in attendance were members of the Rotary Club of Seychelles and staff of the Seychelles Prison.

The President of the Rotary Club of Seychelles, Charlie Ng Ping Cheun, expressed that “We received a request from Superintendent (Raymond) St Ange for some masks and we already had 300 masks in our stock. We have also provided, for the time being, six fans. Our response to Covid-19 as Rotarians is we made 3000 face masks that we delivered to the general public, old people and in districts. We also proposed to the Seychelles Prison that we can offer our services free of charge to deliver courses for the prisoners who want to sit for IGCSE exams. Currently we are only doing face masks but we also want to organise for some food distribution for those who cannot go the shops in the future”.

Superintendent of Seychelles Prisons, Raymond St Ange, noted that Seychelles Prison is monitoring the Covid situation closely and so far they haven’t had any positive cases.

“Staff who had family members tested positive were asked to self-isolate and for now we have control of the situation. Most of the staff have been vaccinated and soon the inmates will be vaccinated. All personnel and residents at Montagne Posée prison are abiding by the health guidelines. All handles of doors and footpath are being cleaned. From now on, masks has to become part of our daily routines and we thank the Rotary Club of Victoria for their generous donation,” said Supt. St Ange.

Chief Inspector and head of custodial, Daniel Dogley, noted that there are 255 prisoners with 30 remands and 19 women. “These donations will help us ease the discomfort of the prisoners as it is very hot these days. As our budget has also been reduced, these donations will help us. Prison is a community. Those in a block stay in the same block and do not go to other blocks. If they work outside they use their masks,” noted C.I. Dogley.

To maintain good health practice, Sergeant Monique Monthy, nurse at the Seychelles Prison, makes sure that all good health practices are being observed. “I have been working for the prison for the last eight years when they were having difficulties finding a nurse. It is a challenging job as you have to do everything that a clinic does and we also oversee the methadone programme. With a small team, we make sure that we all respect the health guidelines,” noted Ms Monthy.

Currently no visitors are allowed at the Seychelles Prison and according to the Superintendent, visits might start in April once most of the residents get their second jab of Covid-19 vaccines.

Vidya Gappy