Dear Source:
I would agree with inmates in these facilities; however the investigation needs to also focus on the Golden Grove correctional Facility in St. Croix. There are many inmates facing the same abuse and mistreatment.
I am currently enrolled in the Masters Degree program here in the United States for Criminal Justice and Administration in hopes of returning home to improve our prison system. I am very concerned about the rehabilitation process that is offered to offender in the US Virgin Islands it is adequate for inmates to reenter society so it does not deter inmates from becoming re-offenders. Inmates look at prison as a vacation because everything they can get on the streets they can get in prison and this is all over the United States.
The Virgin Islands is at a very critical point where they need to improve the correctional facility so that the inmates can properly become rehabilitated and return to their community as productive citizens and not planning for the next crime they will commit in order to get the money need to support their families and themselves.
These prisoners are forced to live in conditions and deal with situations that violate their constitutional rights. They are not animals. Even though they may have broken the law they are still human beings and need to be treated this way. Their families are the tax paying citizens who keep the jails running and correctional employees on the pay roll.
There is also a problem with over crowding the Department of Correction need to look into a program where they free up some space in the jails by releasing low risk inmates where the decision is made based on the prisoners history while incarcerated. Review how many times they have been reprimand etc. One of the major problems is that they continue to release inmates who are high risk and have been in and out of prison several times. They need to try and give chances and opportunity to the inmates who are not carry the popular Crucian last names for they are the ones committing all the crimes on the Islands. There are many things that the correction department can come up with to fix the problems the first step is to sit back and really take a look and be honest of the real problems that the Virgin Islands face today.
Lynandrea Harris
Tampa, Florida
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