FOR YET ANOTHER year, inmates at the Horizon Remand Centre and other correctional centres islandwide will get a chance to wield machetes and other garden tools as they clean up the May Pen Cemetery on Spanish Town Road in St. Andrew.
The programme, which was started a few years ago is being done again to clear the 88 acre cemetery of bushes.
"The last programme of this nature was for three weeks. So far, this one has gone on for two weeks and is being done with the assistance of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) in the form of hard tools and equipment," said Major Richard Reese, Commissioner of Corrections.
The inmates are described as low risk. The ones were selected do an evaluation process which is conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Custodial Service, Jane Jarrett. The inmates receive a weekly stipend for the length of the programme. Major Reese did not disclose how much the inmates are paid, but when the programme was first started in 2001 the prisoners received $500 per week.
Major Reese said the inmates were chosen from Horizon, which is next door to the May Pen Cemetery, and Tamarind Farm in St. Catherine. He said they have so far received help from the Denham Town police, and the Trench Town Fire Department as well.
He said last year the inmates did some bushing and fencing of government properties in St. Catherine, and that the correctional service would be working with the parish councils on various projects across the island .
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