Tower Street Correctional Centre Gets 20 Toilets from Support Organisations

The Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (General Penitentiary) received 20 toilets, Tuesday (August 25), from two support organisations, Prison Fellowship Jamaica and the Board of Visitors, to assist in improvements to the penal institution’s sanitary conveniences.
Commissioner of Corrections, June Jarrett, thanked both organisations for the toilets, in particular, and for their continued support of the correctional institutions over the years, in general.
She said that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) was fortunate to have their support, at a time when it is under pressure to improve the amenities, despite the serious economic challenges it is facing.

Commissioner of Corrections, June Jarrett(second right), symbolically accepts the cover of one of 10 toilets donated to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre (General Penitentiary), Kingston, Tuesday (August 25), by the institution’s Board of Visitors from Ms. Beverly Clarke (second left). Twenty toilets were presented to the Commissioner, 10 each from the Board of Visitors and Prison Fellowship Jamaica to help improve conditions at the institution. Looking from left are: KSAC Councillor, Audley Gordon, who chairs both charitable organisations; Superintendent Leroy Fairweather; Rev. Robert Jacobs, chaplain; and Deputy Commissioner of Corrections, Shirley Johnson.

Chairman of both the Prison Fellowship and the Board of Visitors, Councillor Audley Gordon, said that this was only one of several projects which the organisations have planned to assist the institutions.
“There is also an upstairs block at Tower Street where there is no water, and we plan to install both a water tank and a pump to ensure that inmates can have water available at all times,” Councillor Gordon, who represents the Hughenden Division in the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) Council, told JIS News.
He said that there were also plans to tile the chapel at the South Camp Rehabilitation Centre (Gun Court) on South Camp Road, Kingston.
“Our mandate (as the Prison Fellowship) is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we want to do so more in deeds than in words,” Councillor Gordon said. Prison Fellowship Jamaica is a member of Prison Fellowship International.
He noted that the presentation was timely, in light of the recent revelations of the poor conditions existing in juvenile centres.
Executive Director of the Fellowship, the Rev. Mark Hardy, said that he will be seeking the support of his board to make a similar donation to the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre (formerly the St. Catherine District Prison), Spanish Town.
Superintendent at the Tower Street institution, Leroy Fairweather, thanked both organisations for their goodwill which, he said, will go a far way in improving conditions there.
He said that the institution welcomes whatever support it can get, in creating for inmates a more rehabilitative environment, while awaiting the construction of a new prison to replace the overcrowded facility.