00:00Minister of Justice Devish Maharaj, in putting the Parole Bill 2026 before the lower house,
00:05outlines the two types of parole which government intends to grant prisoners.
00:10The first is partial parole, which people who have served a quarter of their sentence
00:14will be eligible for once they satisfy certain conditions, including not being a recidivism risk.
00:21In a partial parole, if you come out, you have to go back in to fulfill the terms of your
00:28sentencing.
00:29Although there's another provision later on down in the Act,
00:33that after having successfully done your partial parole, you can make an application for full parole.
00:41The Parole Board will be responsible for making a recommendation, and then that will go back to the court.
00:47The minister says from the moment a prisoner enters the system,
00:51the parole assessment in terms of rehabilitation programs will be initiated by a parole officer.
00:56According to Maharaj, the present rehabilitation system has fallen flat,
01:00and the government, he says, intends to change that, adding that a review is underway.
01:06But in the current state, Mr. Speaker, as left by my friends on the other side, if I might say,
01:11there is no serious rehabilitation going on.
01:16He points to the remission program, which can be applied for after serving two-thirds of a sentence,
01:22but where he states rehabilitation is not mandatory.
01:25But according to him, the bill also places the victim at the forefront in terms of focus.
01:31And we're not allowing it even at the stage of prosecution.
01:37We're not allowing it even post-prosecution.
01:41We are saying even when you are in prison and you want to be released, you have to hear from
01:48a victim.
01:49Now, Mr. Speaker, if that is not revolutionary, you tell me what is.
01:54But Port of Spain's South MP Keith Scotland is rejecting Maharaj's narrative
01:59that the PNM administration did nothing for reform and rehabilitation.
02:03Scotland-sized programs like the Alternative Learning and Life Skill Enhancing Training,
02:09Amplify, and Project Trending, which have been canceled by the UNC government.
02:15He states that these were intended as proactive approaches to crime prevention.
02:20The Youth Agricultural Homestead Programme, which was designed to encourage young people
02:27to take their energies away from criminal activity and do agriculture, gone.
02:33The Youth Aquaculture Programme, gone.
02:37The Youth Agricultural Shade House Programme, gone.
02:41Scotland says the parole bill warrants the support of the opposition.
02:45We do not object to a concept of parole.
02:51We say at this stage, in this poor form that this bill has been presented,
02:57that it ought to be sent to a GSE to interrogate the amendments that we have circulated on this side.
03:07One of the flaws, according to the MP, is that the bill targets more serious offenders,
03:12those during sentences of 10 years and up.
03:15He asks, what about those who are convicted for lesser crimes,
03:19saying those should be the recipients of parole?
03:23Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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