‘Scare them straight’: Security Minister to expand prison visit programme for troubled youngsters

National Security Minister, Robert Montague, says his ministry is planning to attempt to pull troubled youngsters from the brink of a life of crime by taking them inside the nation’s penal institutions.

The initiative will see the youngsters being exposed to the harsh conditions inside prison and also be lectured by inmates who have been subjected to incarceration.

Montague said the job of an existing pilot project has been delegated to State Minister of Security, Pearnel Charles Jnr.

“Minister Charles has been asked to expand that programme because there is such a programme in the Correctional Service but on a very limited scale. The emphasis for this administration is not only rehabilitation but redemption and also to prevent many of these issues,” he said.