Inmates at Vision on Mission’s Transit Centre at Champs Fleurs. Photos: Shirley Bahadur

The Vision On Mission (Vom) Transit Centre is bursting at its seam with deportees. At present, a total of 16 deportees and 14 ex-inmates are housed at the rented centre at Champs Fleurs, which was originally designed to accommodate 15 people. The deportees, from all over the world, were sent back to their homeland after being found guilty of petty and serious offences. Normally, if they are not met by relatives at the airport, they are placed in the care of the Ministry of Social Development and then transferred to the transit centre for a three-month re-integration programme.

Recently, however, an influx of deportees on a daily basis is being blamed for the overcrowding problem at the centre. “Before a deportee is even released from the centre we have more deportees coming. Even after the three-month rehabilitation period many of the deportees are still unable to make contact with their families so they are forced to stay on with us. It is a very challenging situation because we cannot put them out on the streets,” Vom president Wayne Chance said. The aim of the transit centre is to rehabilitate ex-inmates. because of the increase of deportees, however, Vom has been forced to open its doors to accommodate more people for longer periods.

Financial struggle, overcrowding
Chance explained that while Vom was willing to go the extra distance and help the deportees, it continued to face a financial struggle. He said the monthly stipend of $800 was not able to cover the needs of a deportee. Chance said he had been forced on several occasions to dip into the $700,000 subvention that was allocated by the Government to deal with the operations of Vom to assist the deportees. Chance explained: “The money is just not enough. It takes approximately $3,000 to maintain one deportee fully, which includes providing them with adequate meals, clothing, shelter and toiletries. “The monthly food bill alone cost approximately $8,000 because of the number of people staying at the centre. It is much more than what we catered for.”

LEFT: President of Vision on Mission Wayne Chance, right, with chairman, William Lutchman at the transit centre in Champs Fleurs.
RIGHT: Vision on Mission’s Transit Centre at Champs Fleurs.

Accommodation is also inadequate in the five-bedroom house, and six men are forced to sleep in the same room. They also share two toilet and baths. Nevertheless, the deportees and ex-inmates expressed gratitude to Vom for saving them from life on the streets. Wishing that Vom could give more assistance, Chance said, “We have no choice but to let the men sleep in the same room. What we have done is to set up three double-decker beds in each room and right now we are trying our best to see how we can expand. “We do not like the idea with all these big men sleeping in the same room but there is no room. We have transformed the laundry room into a temporary bedroom to accommodate the ex-inmates but we cannot take in anymore at this time.”

He admitted that over the last couple of months he has been forced to turn people away because of no space. To compound matters, Chance said, employment is also posing a major challenge because of the stigma attached to the deportees. “Only a few companies are willing to give them a second chance so this also leads to them staying longer than the six-month period. All we want is purchase of the property to be finalised because this transit centre is trying to prevent recidivism,” Chance said. The Government is moving to purchase the building at a cost of $1.1 million. Minister of National Security Martin Joseph recently opened a detention centre at Aripo to help deal with deportees.