Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander says the Government plans to tap what he described as “the largest labour force in the nation” by deploying prison inmates sentenced to hard labour to help maintain public spaces while the replacement for CEPEP is rolled out.
Speaking during a visit to the National Programme for the Upkeep of Public Spaces (NPUPS) in Tunapuna on Tuesday, Alexander said convicted prisoners would be brought out to assist with cleaning communities, cutting grass and maintaining public areas.
“We have the largest labour force in the nation’s prison and we don’t utilise them,” Alexander said.
He added: “We are going to reintroduce where persons who have been charged and convicted by a court and sentenced to hard labour. We are going to reintroduce those persons to help… with the clean-up process.”
The announcement comes as residents across Trinidad and Tobago have complained for the past year about overgrown grass and unmaintained public spaces following the closure of the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), saying the neglected areas have become both an eyesore and a security risk.
Alexander acknowledged the maintenance backlog, saying CEPEP would not return until legal matters had been resolved.
He also argued that keeping public spaces clear is a crime-fighting measure, echoing concerns raised by residents about overgrown vegetation.
“It’s about environmental design, which is part of the crime issues. Because if there’s bush here and large bush here, people hiding and jumping out at you. It’s about fixing the environmental design of the place.”
Alexander said NPUPS teams would continue moving from community to community carrying out maintenance work.
Defending the prison labour proposal, he said it would also help rehabilitate inmates.
“You know what is hard labour in the jail right now? A man that is smoking. A man on his phone, internet and all these things. If someone is smart and on the inside can use that process to reintegrate himself into the public, let the public see that fella is hard working.”
