Prisoners urged to imitate Christ’s life

Commissioner of Prisons Gerard Wilson and Marueen Clement.
Commissioner of Prisons Gerard Wilson and Marueen Clement.

PRISONERS, their families and victims of crime are being urged to imitate the life of Jesus Christ as they try to deal with the suffering that comes with incarceration.

Through an initiative by the Christian-based international organisation Prison Fellowship International (PFI), prisoners are taught forgiveness, humility, selflessness, how to be approachable and other traits of Christ.

PFI works in over 100 countries. In TT, The Prisoners’ Journey programme (TPJ) is one of three programmes which offer to “alleviate the suffering of prisoners, their families, and victims of crime.”

TPJ’s regional co-ordinator Maureen Clement said the programme shows prisoners the life of Christ and lets them compare their lives with His, “because he too was a prisoner.

“We look at how Christ dealt with his situation and how you can deal (with it). There is no preaching, no singing, no praying. It is a life skill course, the Christian way.”

TT forms part of the Caribbean Coalition which also includes Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica.

Maureen Clement, regional co-ordinator of The Prisoners’ Journey programme (TPJ).

Clement, 60, of Arouca, said the programme comprises an eight-week course and is not limited to Christians. There are teaching sessions and group work.

TPJ shows the prisoners videos of the lives of other prisoners (internationally) and how they were transformed to be better people.

“We have had Muslims and all types of prisoners from different religions. We show them one way and if it meets with their favour, they can continue,” Clement said.

June marked a year since the programme began here, and on June 26, 143 people graduated at the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) of whom 20 were Venezuelan women, who were taught in Spanish.

But the teachings of the Christ-like life do not stop at the prison facilities. If the participants want to continue changing their lives, TPJ offers a discipleship class where they can get counselling.

Since its inception, about 390 people from MSP, Golden Grove Prison, Carrera Convict Prison and Women’s Prison have graduated. TPJ hopes to start soon at Remand Yard and Port of Spain prison.

In March, after spending 15 years in jail awaiting trial, La Brea fabricator Jimmy Huggins walked out of the San Fernando High Court freed of a murder charge.

One of his first comments was to thank TPJ for helping him during the “tough time in prison.”

Huggins, Clement said, was amongst the first batch of prisoners to attend classes. “It impacted him. To keep the impact, it is up to him. As everything with God, it is a choice.”

Clement’s own ventures into the prison system began when she was a young woman, singing in a church choir to YTC inmates. In 2008, she began heading a music programme at the MSP where she teaches prisoners to read music. She is doing a music degree at COSTAATT and is expected to graduate in November.

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