Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart says reformed prisoners in the various prisons are mentoring youths to stay away from crime and warning them that there is no future in crime.
He was speaking to the Sunday Guardian yesterday at the end of a rally against violence march themed “All lives matter” at the Brian Lara Promenade which began at the Croisee, San Juan.
Stewart said, “We have a group right now who were on the walk from the female prison, YTC (Youth Training) and maximum security prison.
“They would be using their mistakes and experiences as a message and testimony to the youths to strengthen their resolve, to let them know that crime is not the way and using their stories to touch and save lives.
“They're undergoing a training course and programme while in prison, and going out after, mentoring to the schools and institutions.
Various groups and schools, he said, also come to the YTC and prisons making tours and the mentors lecture to them about staying away from crime. “It isn’t an alternative and there is no future in crime,” he added.
Spokesman for the young mentors, Winston Jonathan, 20, an inmate of the YTC who was charged for breaking and entering with larceny said they spoke about peer pressure, what they used to do and how they ended up at the centre.
Jonathan said the youths listened to how he and others had changed as people and they tried to give them “a little push” to see if it could change their lives.
Secretary of the Malick Folk Performing Company, Jemma Jordan, said many of its members' lives had been affected by the violence taking place in society. Jordan said there were many avenues in which they could channel their energies such as cultural organisations because people involved in culture rarely became perpetrators of crime.
Speaking briefly at the Croisee, San Juan, Sports Minister Darryl Smith said the majority of people in T&T were good, law-abiding citizens and they needed to send a message to the few bad apples that the nation was not going to tolerate their behaviour any longer.