Sum Allocated to Rehabilitate Deported Persons

A sum of $7 million has been allotted to the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Local Offenders and Deported Persons Programme in the Ministry of National Security.

Objectives of the programme, which is being financed by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, are: to reduce the rate of reoffending amongst local offenders and deportees; to improve the rehabilitation and reintegration of deportees and offenders in Jamaica; to establish emergency safety nets  to receive deportees immediately on return to Jamaica.

It also aims to provide services throughout Jamaica to help the reintegration of deportees and local offenders; and contribute to the strengthening of the Jamaican Government’s Policy Framework, through collaborations between Government Departments and Civil Society.

The programme, which originally started in November 2008, was slated to end in March 2011, but has been further extended to March 2016.

The target of the programme for the new fiscal year, which begins on April 1, is to provide support for investigators responsible for investigating the circumstances of deported migrants.

Some of the physical achievements of the programme up to December 2014 included: the construction of an archive dome to store old passport records; completion of renovation works at Open Arms Drop in Centre to provide an administrative and counselling space as well as computer lab and training area; expanded income generation initiatives for deported migrants and local ex-offenders through support to the Open Heart Charitable Mission (St. James) and the Portland Rehabilitation Management.