Punitive nature of criminal justice system needs reform

by Curlan Campbell

• Social worker promotes changing narrative dealing with juveniles in conflict with law
• 15 residents between 14–17 years at Grand Bacolet Centre;11 are male
• Richmond Hill Prisons has 384 adult inmates, including 3 females

Andy Matthew, Social Worker and Youth Advocate at the Grand Bacolet Juvenile Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre, believes that the punitive nature of Grenada’s criminal justice system needs reform.

Changing the narrative dealing with juveniles in conflict with the law is a clear path towards achieving this. Matthew has spent the last few years working with youths referred to the centre on a juvenile court order after being convicted of various offences. These offences range from theft, drugs, violent harm, and deviant behaviours. So what factors contribute to male academic underachievement, and is there a correlation between boys’ underperformance and the high male prison population?

Matthew knows all too well the community background and dysfunctional homes that many of these young people come from, and therefore, restorative justice that allows for reconciliation and reform needs to replace punitive justice. “I think our society is based on this unforgiven, and when someone does something wrong, we beat them down to change it,” Matthew said. “But we have to change that because a lot of these children have experienced high levels of abuse, so if we continue to perpetrate that, the only thing we are going to get out is an angry young person who is unable to cope with society.”

Juveniles were sentenced to adult prison before 2015, when the Grand Bacolet Centre was established. The current population at the Centre is 15 people between the ages of 14 and 17, of which 11 are boys. This number is the lowest on record compared to a few years ago when the centre housed over 40 residents, of which 33 were boys. Many were high school dropouts. 

Matthew stated that a major focus is being placed on rehabilitation and removing the stigma of incarceration for criminal offences. Juveniles sentenced by the court are referred to as residents, not inmates. 

Residents must participate in many of the rehabilitation programmes at the centre that seek to provide some structure to their lives. Returning to school and preparing to sit their CSEC examinations is also mandatory since the literacy and numeracy skills of many of these young boys are below the required level. Residents are made as comfortable as possible at the facility since many of these young people, before entering, experience high levels of abuse. Many come from poor households with single mothers or absent male role models. 

“Most of the males that are residents here don’t have an active father figure in their lives…men are not taking their responsibility, so the women are doing the best job they can to try to bring these men up and sometimes overcompensating so their behaviour is left unchecked,” Matthew said.

As a country, we celebrate academic achievement and each year, students who excel receive national recognition. However, it’s unfortunate that while we focus on those who have achieved, we inadvertently ignore the glaring signs of the worsening reality of academic underachievement, especially among our males. The dropout rates serve as a reminder male students are struggling.

Matthew stated that many of the homes where these young men come from help breed their dysfunction. Additionally, he said one of the main consequences of feminising education is that boys may often disengage from education completely. This imbalance has a devastating effect on young men. “You need a balance, and that’s what they are not getting. They are getting either too much of the mothers or too much of the fathers. We need that balance,” he said. “As men, we tend to learn in different ways to women. Maybe the teaching we have now in schools is more conducive to the way women can learn, so these are the things we have to start looking at.”

Matthew feels that poverty’s role in perpetuating crime cannot be ignored since many young people would not be in the facility if basic needs were met at home. “A lot of the time, the stealing is for food, the basic needs which show that their needs are not being met, so yes, we might blame this child for doing that, but if their needs were being met, would they be in that position? So there I look at cause and effect,” he added.

He pointed out that despite the Centre’s best rehabilitation efforts, many residents would probably return to life as it was. Because of this sad reality, Matthew said it is time for authorities to make transitional housing available for offenders’ re-entry into society, commonly called “halfway houses.” Temporary living spaces where people completing their probation must stay before being fully released into their communities will help curb some of the recidivism rates we are currently experiencing. “If we have semi-independent living house spaces where these children can transition from here and they go to that place to learn how to live on their own…there should be someone there to help them teaching them skills is something we need,” Matthew said.

Currently, the country’s lone adult prison has 381 inmates and 3 females. Between 60 -70% of the male inmates are between 19-35, and rehabilitation for the young men includes mentorship and training programmes, including basic literacy, anger management and counselling. Inmates also learn skills in electrical installation, general agriculture, refrigeration and air conditioning, but despite having access to these opportunities, only 20% participate.

Christopher Stroude, a Social Worker at the Richmond Hill Prisons, said this is the reality facing our society. “We cannot force them to get involved in those programmes. They have to volunteer for the programme, or the court has to mandate that they get involved in it, and this is a problem because unless this is done, it prevents us from being able to do as much as we would want to,” he explained. “There is another issue of staffing; we do not have enough staff to be able to carry out all of the needed functions because if all of the inmates want to be part of the class, then we would not be able to accommodate them.”

Stroude said the low percentage opting to participate in training programmes continues to fuel the recidivism rate, which is as high as 75%. In comparison, the recidivism rate for inmates involved in rehabilitation is 15%.