Female inmates within two of Jamaica’s correctional facilities are now being provided with mental support thanks to a J$8.6 million investment by the Sandals Foundation. 

The injection, which will continue to provide textbooks, resources, and payment of salaries for Math, English and other subject teachers under Stand Up for Jamaica’s (SUFJ) Educational Rehabilitation Programme within the three adult correctional centers in Kingston and St Catherine, has now enabled the addition of a counselling psychologist and psychotherapist to the team. 

As countries around the world recognise May as Mental Health Awareness month, the recently expanded programme has proven a welcome addition to the services provided by the human rights and advocacy group. Working alongside the expertise of Woman Inc., the multifaceted team seeks to identify and carefully address the psychological challenges being faced by some 120 females at the South Camp Adult Correctional Facility.

Maria Carla Gullotta, executive director at Stand Up for Jamaica, says the newest support forms part of efforts to create a more suitable environment that facilitates personal and academic growth.

“We have been realising that most of the women are less successful in school and professional skills activities because they do not focus. Many keep thinking, worrying and feeling stressed about what is happening to their children on the outside.”

The psychological support, Gullotta says, “allows us to provide a level of social intervention that builds their capacity to mentally navigate their circumstances and eventually hone in on the academic programme which will empower them to change their circumstances when they return home.”

The new year-long programme, which offers a two-hour monthly session, is already making inroads, according to newly contracted counselling psychologist and psychotherapist, Dr Veronica Salter.

“I administer the ‘Accelerated Childhood Experience Test’ which provides an idea of physical and psychological abuse which [the women] may have gone through as children but is affecting them now as adults.  Their scores were quite high, indicating them suffering early childhood abuse.” 

The prognosis, however, according to Salter, echoes that of hope: “These women have faced a lot in society and have never had help to deal with it. They feel inadequate as women and as mothers.

I see them as being a group we can work with very well and teach them ways they can make their lives more rewarding. We do a lot of breathing techniques to help them regulate their emotions, and we are exploring areas of art and writing where they can express themselves.”

The expanded education programme, which also supports members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual and queer (LBGTQ) community at the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Center, has also been showing positive results.

Dr Hopeton Moving, the counselling psychologist who leads the intervention, says inmates are demonstrating an interest in being helped, “Over the last couple months, they are growing comfortable sharing and being receptive to the intervention. My role is to understand their challenges and address those challenges without discrimination”.

In describing the mental issues being faced by members of this vulnerable group, Moving explains, “There are adjustment challenges that one would expect having lost one’s freedom, but beyond that, there are issues of self-esteem, self-worth, acceptance, and being dealt with without prejudice. We are making good progress. We are now trying to get a skills development unit to help them advance even further.”

For Heidi Clarke, executive director at the Sandals Foundation, the investment into the expansion of the Educational Rehabilitation Programme forms part of its mandate to develop Caribbean communities.

“Community development reaches beyond infrastructure development that supports young people, women, the elderly, and children. For us it is also about providing a lifeline to those who need a second chance. The new psychological support being spearheaded by Stand Up for Jamaica through this expanded educational programme meets a fundamental human need for healthcare and we happy to support.” 

“Our hope,” Clarke continued, “is for the men and women, through this social intervention, will build their capacity to see their innate value, chart an empowered future, and prevent the escalation of circumstances that finds them in conflict with the law”.