Comprehensive rehab programme needed for repeat offenders – Pastor

Jun 08, 2014 News

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By Zena Henry
Being an ex-offender himself, Pastor Wendell Jeffrey is well aware of what it takes to offer a meaningful chance to a person willing to turn away from a life of crime. He has in fact seen the benefits of a meaningful second chance, since he provides it to ex-offenders in the United States and wants to do the same for his fellow Guyanese. He says that to do so, Guyana must first recognize the need for post-release rehabilitation.
Jeffrey is convinced that it would be an incomplete job to provide assistance during a prisoner’s incarceration and not have follow-up programmes to ensure that he remains on a clear path and is in a better position to abstain from

criminal activities.
Wendell Jeffrey was raised in Laing Avenue, Georgetown and was no stranger to several forms of hardship during his childhood. He has been locked up several times in almost all of the city lockups. Sixteen years ago in the United States, he was involved in a drug matter and was incarcerated for four months, facing up to 25 years in prison. Fortunately, the case was dropped and he recognized the need for a new beginning.
Jeffrey has studied and armed himself with knowledge to help offenders turn away from crime. He has studied the causes of crime and ways in which people could be aided in desisting from such activities. The Pastor has thus been working with ex-offenders in the United States using comprehensive methods in equipping them for their return to society.
This programme is run under the Practical Christianity Ministries which Pastor Jeffrey developed. The programme which involves spiritual, academic and life skill changes, among others, is the number one pre and post-release programme being used in the state of Indiana in the United States and it caters for 4000 inmates housed in the State’s largest penitentiary, Westville Correctional Facility.
Pastor Jeffrey has met with local security authorities on several occasions and has already put forward proposals to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which recently announced some major changes in the prisoner rehabilitation system.  This includes agriculture among other things, being used to teach prisoners a trade and at the same time, making the institute self-reliant in terms of food provision. Several other proposals were put to the Ministry and others involved in the prisoner rehabilitation programme.
Pastor Jeffrey is now promoting the post -release rehabilitative programme.
“The post-release rehabilitation programme currently, is limited.”
He explained that for example, a prisoner might commence a mechanic or construction course while incarcerated, but then his release time arrives and he leaves without finishing the course
“What next?” he questioned.
Jeffrey pointed out that studies show that in Guyana some 75 percent of offenders return to prison within three to five years of their release from prison because they are forced back into the same situations which would have landed them in the lock ups in the first place. He added that several other factors hinder the meaningful rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners back into society.
“To begin the pre-release rehabilitation programme is commendable, but it is short and not holistic. All developed countries have post-release rehabilitation programmes, so when the girls and guys get out of prison, they have a formal entity that continues that transition as they seek to get reacclimatized into the community, and that post-release programme is what provides the cushion.”
The Pastor related that as a criminologist and working with ex-offenders, he came up with an acronym for the criminogenic needs called VHESS. The V is for vocational training, and it was realized that many offenders do not have vocational skills that allows them to be employed. The H, speaks to housing. “When a person is released, three, five, ten years later, they have a housing problem and it’s twofold; they either don’t want to go back because of the environment; they want to move on, or they can’t go back because of changes.”
The E-represents education; Pastor Jeffrey said it was discovered that most of those incarcerated have education/academic problems. The first and second S’s speak to substance abuse and spiritual formation respectively. The Pastor found also that many prisoners are addicted to something, while some have spiritual problems in not practicing their religion of choice.
“In order for a rehabilitative programme to be effective, it must encompass these criminogenic needs and there is no such programme in Guyana.” The only two rehabilitative programmes he said, deal strictly with drug rehabilitation and even that is limited, since the organizations deal with the “cognitive” problem – where users are told that they should not use drugs, but the mental and metabolic problems are not addressed.
However, if the government is to endorse Jeffrey’s programme, he says that there would be medical intervention where persons access saunas, synthetic and conventional medication among others to meaningfully deal with their problems.
Jeffrey reiterated that 75 percent of criminals locally return to prison within a certain time and he described this as, “a revolving door in the prison system.”
“I work with the prisoners and they tell you, ‘if I had a place to go to help us transition we would not reoffend.’”
It is for this reason, Jeffrey said, that as part of the programme in the US, ex-offenders are offered a place to stay while they not only continue to learn whatever skill they are being taught, but they receive aid in gaining employment as cooperation from businesses and other entities is sought. This same feature is offered to perpetrators of minor offences where they are not imprisoned but monitored within this specific housing facility. It is another issue, Jeffrey said, when ex-offenders cannot find a job because of their background; and this must be addressed and provisions made if the whole rehabilitation process is to be successful.
The Pastor went on to relate his finding that Guyana’s failure to earnestly address the crime and criminal rehabilitation process has seen the country exporting crime. He explained that the majority of female prisoners in Barbados – where he also is a citizen – are Guyanese, and a significant number of men.
He pointed to the deportee level where many Guyanese are being sent home for crime. Pastor Jeffrey went on that during his travels and communication with Guyanese in the Diaspora, “many of them will tell you they are concerned about the crime. Many of them speak of returning to open businesses and to resettle, but they always talk about the crime and that makes some of them reluctant to visit.”
When asked about the need of such an elaborate plan for Guyana, Pastor Jeffrey is positive that it is necessary. He said that he would like to establish this programme and become employed in Guyana, sharing his skills and expertise with his own people.
Currently, both the Barbadian government and opposition have been calling on Jeffrey to set up the programme over there, despite that country having a considerably smaller crime problem. Jeffrey reiterated his anticipation in operating the programme in Guyana.
“This set up has never been done before,” he said. “It will be an inaugural programme that would take Guyana’s prisoner rehabilitation to a whole new level.”

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