25 inmates at Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP) are set to benefit from the MPower 2.0 Project.
The project was launched on Thursday, 2 July 2020, at Her Majesty’s Prisons. This is a collaboration between the Ministry of Youth Development, Sports Culture and the Arts and Her Majesty’s Prisons.
The M-Power Project is a training project conceptualised to specifically target young males aged 18-30 years, who are unemployed.
The project at the prison will run for 12 months and focusses primarily on soft skills, as well as technical and vocational skills in the areas of Agriculture and Beekeeping.
Permanent Secretary with responsibility for Youth Development, Norman Gilbert, encouraged the participants to become fully engaged in the training programme.
“Throughout the course of the year you will be engaged in soft skills and this is the most critical part of the programme for us at the ministry, because it will help to shape your character and level of consciousness. We will also work with you on issues such as anger management and conflict resolution, skills that are critical and specific to you, young men. The soft skills will also focus on areas specific to men including men’s health and men’s role in the family.”
Minister with responsibility for Youth Development, Hon. Kate Lewis, in addressing the 25 young men, emphasised the importance of rehabilitation. “The concept of prison is also to rehabilitate our prisoners. The basic idea is that people who have been incarcerated, will never like to be sent back to prison, and that is why we are here to ensure that lives are transformed and that the participants make better lifestyle decisions, going forward.”
Commissioner of Prisons, John Mitchell, encouraged the men to remain committed to the pledges made, towards becoming success stories. “You have to understand it starts with you, no one else cannot do it for you, and not even God can do it for you. The program was designed by men for men and I want you to make every use of this opportunity.”
One of the registered participants, an inmate at Her Majesty’s Prisons, pledged their cooperation towards making the programme a success. “This is a time for turning our lives around, and becoming productive citizens in our tri-island state. I want to assure our commissioner and the Ministry of Youth, that the inmates in this project, would make full use of the opportunity, granted to us.”
6 July 2020, marked the start of Developmental Training sessions for the registered participants. It will run up to 27 August.
Ministry of Youth Development
