On Sunday quite a large number of relatives of prisoners are expected to converge at the Belize Central Prison in Hattieville to spend several hours with their loved ones serving time at the institution
The family day is the culmination of a week of activities held to celebrate prison week observed each year from august tenth to the sixteenth – which also coincides with Kolbe’s taking over of the prison.
Kolbe reports that since then there has been a significant decrease in what’s called the recidivism rate, the number of inmates returning to prison.
According to the Chief Executive Officer Jorge Meliton Auil they plan to continue to provide services needed to help them meet their goal of meaningful rehabilitation and successful reintegration.
Auil also told 7news that contrary to media reports there is not a problem of overcrowding at the Belize Central Prison.
Jorge Meliton Auil - CEO, Kolbe Foundation
“The present count is about 1,400. We can maybe fit an additional 15 to 20% more than that. So there is no problem of overcrowding. No problem. In fact we just finished building a facility that can fit an additional 250 men.”
“What we can look forward to in the next six months, i am sure you have heard of the Merida initiative where the police and border agencies are getting massive amounts of money. Well, part of that component, a half a million belize dollars is designated for prison security management. What that will do for us here is to basically we are going to start a full time training academy, training school so officers are trained and brought up to amore professional level. Renovate the existing officers barracks and equip our officers with better gear, boots, utility belts, flashlights, handcuffs, better uniforms so that’s what we can look forward to in the next six months. We also plan to improve on our lighting system here because as you know with all of the blackouts we need a good backup system, so we need to work on that. What we are looking forward to improving is the prison industry we have just received a grant from the German embassy of $30,000.00 to buy cabinet making tools and equipment so what we want to do is increase production, improve on quality. So you will be seeing in the coming months Kolbe Foundation advertising their products because we have talented people back here.”
The Kolbe Foundation helps to rehabilitate its inmates through programs like education since over fifty percent of its population is illiterate.
