The Virgin Islands now has its first accredited sex offender treatment programme, according to Government Information Services.
The “Sharing my Success” programme — a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Culture and the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office — ended in June with five prisoners completing a six-week course at Her Majesty’s Prison.
The course, which can be delivered to individuals or to groups of up to six, covers topics including self-esteem, life skills, and healthy relationships.
The programme was designed by two forensic psychologists from the UK Prison Service, who met offenders and staff in the territory in November and February and then returned to the UK to create a programme based on the VI’s needs, according to GIS.
They subsequently returned to train staff from HMP and the Social Development Department in facilitating the course: HMP officers Ganesia Smith, Germaine Freeman, Kesena Okoro and Jenene Edwards, as well as SDD staffers Angelle Smith, Ife Gaskin and Alethia Turnbull-Thomas.
Ms. Smith, an acting sergeant at the prison, facilitated the first course.
“An important part of this collaboration is that ‘Sharing My Success’ is licensed to the Virgin Islands, which means we will be able to update ourselves when necessary and train additional staff,” said HMP Superintendent David Foot. “The success of this as a project also means that we will be sharing our success with other territories in the Caribbean which hope to deliver this programme.”
The VI programme follows a treatment pattern adopted by the National Offender Management Service in the UK, according to GIS.
Staff were also trained to use the “Risk and Success Factors Analysis” screening tool to assess each prisoner’s needs.
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