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  • 1 year ago
The College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago is working with ex-convicts to give them the second chance they need in life.
It is being done through the implementation of a programme called 'Link Up'.


COSTAATT believes that it has the potential to seriously lower the rate of recidivism.


Here's Alicia Boucher with the details.
Transcript
00:00A prison sentence is supposed to represent the payment for a crime committed, but the
00:06reality for many ex-convicts is that their sentence continues, even after their time
00:11is served.
00:14Unable to attain a certificate of character with their past records still etched in the
00:18database, the ability to get a job for many ex-convicts is an insurmountable challenge,
00:24no matter how much they wish to turn their lives around.
00:27It's generally one of the arguments raised when discussing the high rate of recidivism
00:31in TNT.
00:32Kostat is seeking to change that with LinkUp, a program catered to ex-prisoners, allowing
00:38them to study for three months and at the end achieve certification.
00:43The LinkUp program, which the college started brainstorming over in February 2023, combines
00:48two courses at associate degree level, the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Culture and Conflict.
00:55Senior lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice, Human Security and Legal Studies
00:59at Kostat, Kevin Peters, says it's based on a prison-to-college model.
01:04And hence the name, LinkUp.
01:07So you tell me attempts to link up persons in that nature with the social education system.
01:13The core of the program is that of inclusion.
01:16So something that we attempted to do during the screening process is to emphasize to the
01:21students that, listen, whatever you may have done and whatever you may have done, you would
01:26have served your time, you would have paid your dues.
01:28Now we are here to help you reintegrate because the idea is to reduce recidivism.
01:34The first cohort of 27 participants entered in May 2024.
01:3820 of them who have stuck to their studies are set to graduate in September.
01:43Peters says some of them have expressed an interest in wanting to further their tertiary
01:48studies.
01:49Kostat is working with Incarceration Nations Network and Vision on Mission.
01:54The latter assisted in sourcing the present cohort.
01:58Also within our department, we employ the services of Mr. Nicholas Khan, who is a formerly
02:03incarcerated gentleman who works with our department.
02:08And because of his network and his human service towards the department and to the program,
02:14he was able to source persons also.
02:16The LinkUp program does not discriminate.
02:18Within its cohort, there are prisoners who serve time for serious offenses and minor
02:23offenses.
02:24Khan, who is a coordinator, was incarcerated at the age of 17 for murder, which he saved
02:3015 years for.
02:31He is now 33 and sees great value in the opportunity Kostat has given to him.
02:37He learned to read in prison.
02:39I fell in love with poetry.
02:41I started writing more in poetry and I published two books while in prison.
02:47So I already had the entrepreneur mindset, it just needed to be enhanced.
02:53So the college was able to do that for me.
02:56So even coming on, I started another business, we have a courier business.
03:00So a lot of things I learned from the class, I applied to the business already.
03:05He tells us the culture and conflict part of the course has helped him cope with the
03:09disdain meted out to him at times because of his past.
03:13I can't control people's thoughts and people's emotions because if I put myself in that position,
03:19I probably would have made the same comment.
03:22I understand that society look upon crime as it may.
03:27Even I know where it really came from.
03:31Kellyanne Short went to prison for 13 years.
03:33It was there that she used her skill in dance to teach other prisoners.
03:37The mother of three has had to temporarily give up her children because of how difficult
03:42it is to gain employment.
03:44She was introduced to the program by CAN, but was initially reluctant because of the
03:49many doors that seemed to close in her face.
03:53While incarcerated, a lot of NGOs, a lot of people promised, come to the prison, promised
03:59that they will do this for when we come out of prison, to help us integrate back into prison.
04:04Into society.
04:05Into society.
04:06And when we came out, it was like, you just see a desperate war, you know, and then I
04:11tried to do it on my own where I did get hired and I got fired at the same time because I
04:18was honest.
04:19You understand?
04:20When they say, like, what, have you ever been locked up?
04:23And I was like, yes, I was locked up.
04:25And I was like, for what?
04:26And I was like, so I saw him, it was like, um, so, well, you had a day off, all that,
04:31but just now you're just on Monday, it started, and then the day, so it hurt my feelings.
04:36It really broke me and it broke me down really, really bad where I left there actually crying.
04:42She subsequently started dance classes in Laventille for children ages 5 to 13, but
04:47that too stopped because the space she was using was taken back by the owner and she
04:51didn't have the resources to rent a location to continue it.
04:56Short is now grateful that she enrolled in LinkUp.
04:59What is your vision for yourself?
05:02My vision is to see what Kassad has to offer again for me, right?
05:09Continue it, see what I can take to benefit me, but my main goal is the community, the
05:16youths.
05:17Kassad says the cost to fund the program was US$31,000, sponsored by J.B. Fernandez.
05:25The college would like to expand the program by helping the graduands set up their various
05:29businesses.
05:30The college is seeking to source seed funding for it.
05:33In our estimation, it will cost approximately US$30,000 to US$50,000 to get one person's
05:39business off the ground, to get a business that is off the ground going.
05:43Chair of the Criminal Justice Department, Coen Pyle-Williams says ex-convicts should
05:48be given the chance to be economic and productive contributors of society, and he notes the
05:54call for a whole-of-society approach in the crime fight.
05:57There's a large number of persons who end up back in prison for robbery.
06:03Robbery is an economic crime, it's a crime of economics, so we are trying to avoid that.
06:08And so here's an opportunity for the private sector to work with us to make a contribution.
06:14His question is, if no one does it, then who is going to do it?
06:19Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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