Prison Service Week activities |10 September 2021
Prison department lends a hand to Nature Seychelles
The Seychelles Prison Service (SPS) yesterday continued its Prison Service Week activities with a seaside channel cleanup at the Nature Seychelles site at Roche Caiman.
Kicking off just before 9.30am, the team, led by Superintendent of Prison, Raymond St Ange, and an army of mainly female staff, got to work to remove rocks, debris and sand, in the important channel connecting the marsh and sea, to the back of the site.
The marsh was officially adopted by Nature Seychelles around 15 years ago.
As explained by the chief executive of Nature Seychelles, Nirmal Jivan Shah, twice yearly a JCB is brought in to open up the marsh, but since Covid-19 hit, this has not been possible. The work is usually funded through revenues generated by renting out the only outdoor classroom space on Mahé to both state and private schools and for other activities.
“Normally, twice a year, we bring in a JCB because the channel connects the marsh to the sea and when there is heavy rainfall, the marsh is filled with all the water from the nearby stadium car park and around, so the marsh acts as a sponge to remove the large volume of water and to prevent flooding in the area. So, if we do not keep the channel open, we will face problems with flooding in the stadium and other places, like the newly constructed building nearby,” said Mr Shah.
“In addition, it is for us to get the connection between the marsh and sea clean, where there are fish and other species so that they can come and go. Due to Covid-19 we lost a lot of revenue, so we lacked the funds last year to open the marsh. It was the same thing again this year and we are really satisfied that the department of Prison actually offered to do this for us. I think it will take around 2 to 3 hours and they are really going at it and are really enthusiastic,” Mr Shah remarked.
Interacting with the Minister for Internal Affairs Errol Fonseka, probation officer Lindy Nancy noted that the employees are happy to be giving back to the community, Nature Seychelles, and most importantly, the environment. Having started the clean-up with staff, the remaining work is to be conducted by inmates on the work programme followed by clients on Court imposed conditions, that are related to community service, under the supervision of the prison authorities, until the work is completed.
For his part, Minister Errol Fonseka congratulated the team and Superintendent St Ange for the wonderful initiative, and called for much more of such activities, in the interest of inmates and society at large.
“As you know we want to expand your department, probation, as I feel that it has many roles. What you are doing today is on a volunteer basis but in future, the participation of prisoners in the preservation of our environment is an important role and we will promote this very much. It will also help to develop them and this participation has much more value than the shovelling. It multiplies the value of what you are doing, which is greater than what you are achieving now. We encourage this, it is all about well-being, development, character-building, engagement and all the good things that we should do in Seychelles,” Minister Fonseka said.
Nature Seychelles is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and happens to be the largest and oldest NGO dedicated to the environment in Seychelles. The organisation is responsible for the management of the world-famous Cousin Island Special Reserve, one of the oldest marine protected areas.
In addition to working to preserve the environment, the facility is used to host yoga classes. Nature Seychelles also holds classes to rehabilitate individuals who are substance-dependent, others with mental disabilities, although these have temporarily stopped on account of public health restrictions. But still a lot of school children are coming to the facility.
The accompanying photos show the prison staff in action yesterday.
Laura Pillay
Photos by Louis Toussaint
