WHILE IT MAY cause some initial financial strain in particularly trying times, the government has been encouraged to finally establish a parole system.
Ambassador of the Delegation to the European Union to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mikael Barfod made the suggestion this afternoon at a press conference, following a tour of Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds this morning.
The EU delegation was headed by Barfod, and included head of the political section Claude Bochu, project manager of the social section Koen Rossel-Canbier and press and information officer Wayne Lewis.
The tour was facilitated by assistant superintendent of HMP Dodds, Cedric Moore.
“It seems to me – and this is also what I heard from the prison personnel – is that ex-prisoners are left on their own. They are not followed-up like in other countries, there is no parole service, no support, no sort of following the prisoner to make sure they do not repeat or reoffend and make sure they find they find their way into society…
“There is a resource issue but I think it is very important and I think there is even money to gain by spending a little more on a parole service to avoid reoffending prisoners or ex-prisoners,” he told the media at the EU’s Hastings, Christ Church local headquarters.
“In the very, very short run, it would be difficult to find a solution because it would call for salaries to pay for parole officers, but if you look at it a bit longer term, like in a few years, you save the tax payers an enormous amount of money by not having to feed and house the prisoner again shortly afterwards.”
