Inmates face off with prison officers in historic debate

FOR the first time, members of the public are invited to witness, free of charge on Tuesday afternoon, the prison’s winning debate team in an event hosted by the Prison Service in collaboration with the Bocas Lit Fest.

Fresh off their second win against the University of TT’s debating team in early April, the prison’s Team Intellect will go up against a team of prison officers tomorrow at the Port of Spain City Hall auditorium from 4pm. They will debate on the question, “Does every creed and race find an equal place in T&T?”

An obvious riff on the TT national anthem, the topic also picks up on one of the themes of the recently concluded NGC Bocas Lit Fest, “every creed and race.”

“We’re thrilled to see this huge question of equality echoed and reinforced in this initiative,” says Bocas Lit Fest director Marina Salandy-Brown.

The debate series is the product of a programme conceived three years ago by author and journalist Debbie Jacob, well-known for her pioneering educational service to clients of the prison service through her Wishing for Wings foundation.

“The idea was developed while teaching my CXC English class at the Port of Spain prison,” Jacob said. “It was specially designed to help inmates work on their communication, research and presentation skills.”

The idea quickly gained traction among inmates and officers alike, to the extent that officers were keen to get involved, helping inmates practise for the ensuing inter-station debates, which saw teams from the various prisons competing against each other.

Tomorrow’s event presents the opportunity for both groups to engage in friendly, constructive intellectual battle. Prisons Commissioner Gerard Wilson says, “Inmates are simply people who have been found to have offended society’s norms and laws, but are otherwise regular human beings. This event allows both groups to interact in a competitive environment and can help foster mutual respect between them. That’s the outcome I most look forward to from this and more such debates.”

After successful collaborations with the Prison Service in 2016 and 2017, the idea of a joint effort to host a public debate landed instantly with the Bocas Lit Fest team, according to Salandy-Brown. She added, “Debating big ideas has been essential to our core mission of literary development. We’ve seen the breadth of talent behind our nation’s prison walls and we get the importance of inmates being heard and seen beyond the circumstances of their incarceration.”

Judges for the debate include Justice James Aboud, prizewinning poet and prof emeritus Funso Aiyejina, 2019 OCM Bocas Prize-winner Dr Kevin Browne, journalist Soyini Grey and UTT lecturer Dr Hazel-Ann Gibbs de Peza.

For more information, call 222-7099 or check the Bocas Lit Fest Facebook page for updates.