New programs bearing fruit at YEA
Most of the news coming out of the Department of Corrections these days has not been good. But beyond the stabbings, riots and tamarind whippings is one programme that seems to be making progress. This morning I checked it out.
Since we last visited the Youth Enhancement Academy, the inmates appear to be far more committed to the programmes at the institution and determined to change their lifestyles.
The young men ranging in age from 14 to 31 were transferred from boot camp at the Hattieville Correctional Facility to serve the remainder of their time at YEA in Ladyville. Once at the institution the men are first put through a rigorous work programme before they are assigned to specific classes.
Jacqueline Woods
“Presently there are 75 inmates at the Youth Enhancement Academy. The young men are kept busy throughout the day by taking physical education, academic and vocational classes.”
Joseph Card, Deputy Director, YEA
“We try to create an environment at YEA where rehabilitation is the focus and discipline and the guys through training and through time, have gotten accustom to that. So they are pretty receptive in what we are trying to offer them.”
One new programme is a mosaic art class. It has not only been welcomed by the inmates but is being supported by the business community. Juan Ramirez, who has been at YEA for 16 months and is the class instructor, says the institution has been receiving a number of orders for its tile work.
Juan Ramirez, Instructor, Mosaic Art Class
“We have done for places in Cayo. Right now we are doing for Caye Caulker and SandBox and a next place in Cayo, Horse Rider. We have a lot of orders right now and I feel good.”
Jacqueline Woods
“What can you make from tiles?”
Juan Ramirez
“Anything, anything, any design, size, any size. We can do anything.”
Jacqueline Woods
“I noticed you all have done some tables, some mirrors…”
Juan Ramirez
“We have furniture, mirrors, templates, different size. We have geometric designs and different designs like animals. We do letterings where it depends on which size, if the have small size, big size. The big ones are easier for us, the small ones are more complicated and it will be more expensive.”
Next door, fellow inmates are hard at work behind the computer. That’s right for the first time at YEA, the men are keeping up
to date with the technology necessary to help them get a job. Joseph Card, YEA’s Deputy Director, says all the academic programmes are mandatory and believes the inmates are being fully prepared to perform in a working environment.
Joseph Card
“We find that our youths have to be prepared for what’s going on in society, so we try to get them involve. We know that we have to make the demands that’s present out here, that’s why we have it as a mandatory course.”
The course, which started in March, is conducted by inmate Rhett Fuller. Since the classes started, eight students have successfully
completed the introductory course.
Ruport Avila, Student, Computer class
“I believe it will help us enhance ourselves, so that when we get back out there we will have something to show and prove. That we did not just go to jail and serve our time and come back out. But we went to jail and got something which can assist us to become better people. Become law-abiding citizens if society gives us that opportunity to. And do what we have to do with the skills that we got thought is here at YEA or whichever part of the prison system you come through from.”
Daniel Meighnan, Student, Computer Class
“Well we just got hooked up with Fultec and they are giving us a program that we are going to fix computers, we are going to be computer technicians. The academy is going to get paid for it and out of that money is going to buy things that the academy needs for the inmates and things for the educational classes and what all we need. The technician classes will be that they will take a course and at the same time they are going be fixing computers and they are going to advance in fixing computers so when they go out they know how to fix a computer.”
The young men have not only been working inside the institution but have been putting that knowledge to good use on the outside. They have been helping to construct a halfway house in Ladyville, which will be home for those inmates who have nowhere to go, once they have been released. The project is the idea of Sister Mrytle Roloff, who first visited the prison in 1994.
Sister Mrytle Roloff
“The kids have been coming out and well pounding boards, putting up blocks and just everything. They are learning their trade and the house gives them a chance to put those hands to work. Their minds see it in the classroom and their hands do it here.”
Ruport Avila
“I feel overwhelmed. I believe that if these people can give us the opportunity to…give us that break to find something and get something done for ourselves, then I believe whoever else is out there who can give us a helping hand and not be afraid of us. Not because we have this tag YEA, or whatever the case may be, DOC or convict or prisoner or inmate, I have people look at that name and like they scorn the name inmate like they believe we are no longer human beings. But we accept that we have made a mistake and opportunities like this we are ready to grasp on to. Once given the opportunity to grasp it, we are ready to grasp it. So once given the opportunity, we are ready for it, we take it; we try to make the best use of it. And that’s about it, I feel great about this.”
If you would like to support the programme at YEA you are asked to give them a call at 025-3152. Meanwhile there are plans to relocate the institution. A building is being constructed across from the Hattieville Prison on the Boom/Hattieville road.
