Assistant Superintendent at the Prison, DeCarlo Payne, speaking to The Barbados Advocate.
Sweet potatoes, squash, okras and lettuce, all grown at the prison, were among the produce available to the public for purchase yesterday.
The National HIV/AIDS Commission was on hand to provide persons with information about safe sexual practices. Among those representing the Commission was Public Relations Officer, Fabian Todd (left).
Prison opens its doors to the public
Those who visited Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds yesterday, got to see firsthand the handiwork of several inmates, including several produce items grown at the prison.
DeCarlo Payne, Assistant Superintendent at the Prison, spoke glowingly of their agriculture programme, noting that its tremendous success has ensured that the prison is basically self-sufficient. He made the comments yesterday morning while speaking to The Barbados Advocate, as the Prison opened its doors to the public to take part in its annual Open Day and Health Extravaganza, one of several activities being hosted during Prison Service Week.
“Overtime we were being accused here on the farm of basically growing grass and shrubbery and such like it, because people don’t actually see what is going on behind the scenes. But today is an opportunity for the public to see the different varieties of things we have, and the scale on which we are actually producing these things,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent Payne added, “You can see clearly that if we have things for sale today, it means that we are self-sufficient and we have a surplus, in relation to what goes into the storeroom. We are not going to sell things and still want things for inside as well.”
Turning his attention to the Open day and Health extravaganza, Payne said that the event, which has been running several years now, has helped to remove the mystery that seems to surround the prison. He noted that by allowing the public to come in and see for themselves what goes on at the facility as they seek to rehabilitate offenders, it ensures there is a better relationship between the prison and the community at large. And he added, by extension they hope to see an improvement in reintegration efforts of ex-offenders.
“We believe that embracing the community is the best way forward in relation to what we do here… [and] the response from the public to this initiative over the years has always been good,” he said.
Several companies and government entities took part in yesterday’s event, where persons could have health checks done, see some of the art drawn by inmates and enjoy samples of healthy food and drink. (JRT)