Acting Prisons Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar is toying with the idea of allowing inmates who exhibit good behaviour conjugal visits.
These visits, Ramoutar made abundantly clear, will not permit inmates to have sex with their wives, husbands or partners in prison but allow them the opportunity to bond and spend quality time with them in a private setting.
“I am looking to be more innovative in our visits with inmates and their families. I am looking at more family visits,” Ramoutar said in an interview with Guardian Media last Friday.
“However, let me define conjugal visits. Conjugal visits do not necessarily mean having sexual intercourse with your partner....conjugal visit in a prison setting means having family time intimately with your family members. This will have nothing to do with sexual intercourse.”
Currently, prisoners are not allowed to directly interact privately with relatives, spouses or partners during visits. Rather, they communicate via a phone system set up within the prison system, Ramoutar explained. The only time interaction is allowed by inmates and their relatives is for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, when the interaction is also closely supervised by the prison authorities.
In 2012, then justice minister Herbert Volney had stated Cabinet was set to allow the granting of conjugal rights to certain prisoners, to allow inmates to communicate with their families, friends and attorneys, as well as private family visits for convicted criminals who meet eligibility criteria. This, however, never materialised.
Under his proposed new system, Ramoutar explained that the visits will begin with incarcerated males being visited by their sons, fathers, brothers, uncles and grandfathers. Likewise, a female inmate will only be allowed visits by female members of her family.
“We will start off with that... the same sex. That is my idea. This is not a policy of the prison.”
He said if this goes well, the prison can move to another level.
Ramoutar pointed out that such a move can also incentivise inmates to demonstrate “good behaviour” during their term of incarceration and allow them “more privileges with their families.”
He said prisoners will have to earn the privilege of conjugal visits.
“Getting the right laws in place...getting the Government to buy into it and getting the approval of the Ministry of National Security must first take place,” he noted
Meanwhile, Ramoutar is also moving to create a team of trusted inmates to assist the population during a crisis and provide citizens with community work.
“I want to have our convicted prisoners as a labour force to assist the nation in crisis management,” he said.
He said under this plan, agencies like the T&T Fire Service, T&T Defence Force and Cepep can call the prisons and request help from inmates if a tree falls and blocks the road.
“So we will be another supporting agency of the State. Just give us the tools. We have the labour force that can lend service to the nation.”
He said a special team of inmates will be selected to undertake such tasks.
“We have prisoners here who are willing to do those things. Fire Services, soldiers and Cepep are called upon to do things in the community...where they need manpower. So we will be another entity they can turn to.”
He said this service is already provided by four loyal inmates.
“But we are looking to do this on a larger scale.”
Ramoutar said they also want to establish a tourism beautification project for inmates in Tobago.
Sites in Tobago that attract tourists will be cleaned, maintained and beautified.
“On a daily basis inmates would have to out there and attend to the needs of Tobagonians...volunteering and perhaps accepting small donations. We will ask the Tobago House of Assembly to assist us with the tools and even refer us to where help is needed.”
The commissioner said many elderly Tobagonians need help in repairing things around their homes.
“They will become your friendly neighbourhood prison service.”
Tobago has 15 prisoners.
Ramoutar also has plans to expand agriculture production at Golden Grove. The prison produces 60 per cent of the crops inmates consume.
“Yes, we have to become self-sufficient so we can provide our own food. I am interviewing officers who have a passion for agriculture so they can get on board with the inmates to cultivate more crops,” he said, adding this will ease the burden on state funding.
While it has been argued that prisoners could become more productive by working as labourers in mega-farms, Ramoutar said while the idea was good, they lacked vehicles, manpower and tools to work on large farms.
