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The T&T Prison Service will host its annual Calypso Competition at Woodford Square on February 27. The event is the culmination of calypso competitions held at all nine facilities managed by the Service.

The calypso competitions are arranged by the Programmes Department of the T&T Prison Service, which according to the Service’s website, “is geared specifically towards designing and providing programmes and industries in which offenders can participate, with a view towards rehabilitation.”

The first, second and Road March winners from Port-of-Spain Prison, Carrera Convict Prison, Women’s Prison, Remand Prison, Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, Youth Training and Rehabilitation Centre, Maximum Security Prison, Golden Grove Prison and Tobago Convict Prison will compete for the overall title of Monarch. The inmates will be accompanied by the Prison Officers Band and three bands composed of inmates, the Maximum Security Prison Band, the Port of Spain Prison Band and the Carrera Convict Prison Band. There will also be a mas presentation comprised of mas bands from the Women’s Prison.

Deputy Commissioner of Prisons – Programmes, Sherwin Bruce, said the Service views the calypso shows as contributing towards public safety. “We recognise, both in words and what we do, that most of our clients will go back out into society. We feel therefore they should be involved in cultural activities so they do not feel left out of what is happening culturally in T&T. Carnival is a culturally significant event in T&T and the development within that cultural significance must be recognized and cannot be looked at in a vacuum. The Carnival shows give the performers the ability to raise their confidence. Performing and writing calypsos helps to raise their literacy level and encourages teamwork. These things reduce the criminogenic needs of the inmates by encouraging education, employment and family, because everyone who performs is recognised. For both performers and the rest of the inmates, this brings a level of peace and involvement, and further brings about public safety and crime reduction.”

Bruce said the concerts and similar events throughout the year give the public the chance to see the talents of the inmates, as well as helps them to be more accepting of the inmates when they re-integrate into society. “Our society is not as forgiving as it should be. When somebody does time in prison, that time is payment for the crime, but when they leave here, they’re still paying for it. It becomes an issue of jobs, acceptance into society, acceptance into space. When we have done interviews with guys who would have done crime, gone out and then returned, and we know we would have done all the things, most of them describe doors being closed in their faces, how they were turned away in spite of being qualified, in spite of making changes. Some may say, well you should have prepared them for that, and yes, but there’s only so much preparation we can do. So now we have to prepare you the public on what to expect, and how to trust and how to interact with these guys, bearing in mind they are humans, and if the situation were reversed, you would have wanted the same things.”

Bruce said the T&T Prison Service has taken up the manual of restorative justice. “We understand that in society we all depend on each other. If we ostracise some members, if we treat them badly, the reality is they would react. Hurt people hurt people, that’s a fact, and we have to let society get involved in the rehabilitation process. That’s why we’re always happy when we have volunteers come in, because we all must take the responsibility of rehabilitation. Yes it’s the Prison Services’ mandate but for us to have true restorative justice it must involve society, family and also victims.”

The concert begins at 10 am and is free to the public. The event will be broadcast live on the T&T Prisons Service Facebook page as well as on Rise Maximum Radio.