A dozen inmates from the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Mary, are closer to reintegration with society as they are closer to completing the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) certification course with the HEART Trust NSTA in masonry.

The Ministry of National Security, in a Facebook post on Monday (September 6), disclosed that the 12 inmates have already completed skills training in basic carpentry.

The soon-to-be rehabilitated inmates are “now focused on building outlines, transforming the building plan to reality, profile boarding as well as how to batch mix, pour, vibrate and cure concrete.”

“Masonry is phase two of the four-phase programme that will see inmates earning NVQ-J certification in general construction upon completion,” the ministry added.

In a 2017 interview with JIS News, then-State Minister in the National Security Ministry, Pearnel Charles Junior, said that the rehabilitation and redemption of incarcerated Jamaican in the island’s penal institutions was a critical part of the Government’s fight against crime.

At the time, Charles Junior further remarked that the objective is to reduce reoffending, which is a pillar of the national crime-reduction strategy.

As the only low-security prison in St Mary, the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre houses up to 235 first offenders serving long-term sentences.

According to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), the prison is located on the original site of a sugar plantation and great house, which was later destroyed.

The Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre was commissioned into service in 1944.

As a farm institution, agriculture is one of the major activities.