Through ‘Operation Birthright’, 36 inmates of the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre have been provided with birth certificates.

The inmates are among the first batch of 11,000 Jamaicans, who have been identified to benefit under the US$350,000 programme, which was established to provide an opportunity for Jamaicans who are without a birth certificate to obtain this critical document free of cost.

Speaking at the handover ceremony at the facility in Spanish Town on Wednesday (February 15), minister without portfolio in the office of the prime minister, Floyd Green, said the plan is to extend the initiative across the correctional institutions.

“What we have to do is embark on a larger project… to ensure that we seek to identify, in the first instance, those who are willing but do not have a birth certificate and get them that birth certificate,” he said.

It is reported that some 200,000 Jamaicans are without legal proof of identity. Of that number the programme have identified 11,000 people who are to receive birth certificates in the first phase of the Birthright programme. To date, there have been almost 1,000 applicants for the project.

Green pointed out that a birth certificate is critical and allows citizens to stake their claim in Jamaica. The certificate also allows better access to critical government and business services.

To be eligible for Operation Birthright, individuals must be born in Jamaica, aged one or above, and have a monthly income of $37,000 or below.

Minister of state in the ministry of national Security, Zavia Mayne, in his remarks said that the initiative is part of the process of rehabilitating offenders.

“Formalising inmates is also part of our programme and processes that will reduce recidivism. We cannot continue to have inmates in our facilities that exist without a birth certificate,” he said.

Mayne commended the inmates for taking the first step in formalising their re- integration into society by their voluntary application to receive a birth certificate.

Deputy commissioner, rehabilitation and probation after care services, department of correctional service (DCS), Dr Marc Thomas, said the aim is to reduce recidivism and the programme plays a role in ensuring that persons are reintegrated into society as productive law-abiding citizens.

Chief executive officer and deputy keeper of records, RGD, Charlton McFarlane, said the programme seeks to provide an avenue for persons operating on the outer fringes to access essential social services, health, and educational opportunities by obtaining a birth certificate.

“Under the programme, the most vulnerable in our society will benefit by obtaining their birth certificate [free of cost]… . Today, with the issuing of these birth certificates, we are on course to fulfilling a major requirement of full and wholesome reintegration of [these persons] into society,” he said.

READ Prisoners without birth certificates set to receive documents under Operation Birthright