Prison reopens Chapel of Hope
While some may argue that the best way to deal with criminals is to lock them up and throw away the key, others will tell you that there’s always hope for the convicted. Today, the Department of Corrections took special interest in a place that has brought comfort to more than one inmate. News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams reports.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
The power of prayer behind prison walls is a serious issue in the rehabilitation process. With that in mind, today new Prisons Governor, Major Errol Gentle re-opened the Chapel of Hope on the grounds this afternoon.
Major Errol Gentle, Prison Governor
“It makes me happy, because yes we had a chapel before, but because it was incomplete, certain things we just couldn’t do. But now, I am certain that with the newly refurbished chapel, all the denominations will be able to coming in, the inmates will be able to come to the chapel. They will be able to worship, we’ll even be able to conduct workshops and that sort of thing inside the chapel, so it was very much needed.”
New Prisons Minister Maxwell Samuels couldn’t agree more.
Maxwell Samuels, Minister of Home Affairs
“In that it demonstrates the direction the Department of Corrections is likely to pursue in the not too distant future. We have seen from previous experiences, that a community working together for a common purpose may be more effective than the system, as we know it. Today, there are serious contemplations to free up the management of the Department of Corrections. I trust that if such a process be completed, that initiatives such as this one will be become a common occurrence.”
Gentle says the refurbishing of the building came with much support from the business community along with a group of Taiwanese businessmen calling themselves WANGO Enterprise.
Major Errol Gentle
“The entire floor was resurfaced, there was no windows, the windows were put in, the corners and the roof, as well as the painting of inside and outside. Also the fencing, as you can see, the new gates that they have in the front and in the rear that was done.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
