Pastor urges mindset shift on ex-inmates rehab

With 23 homicides already recorded this year, a leading pastor has accused Barbadian society itself of fuelling the cycle of crime by shutting former inmates out of jobs and second chances.

Pastor Timothy McClean made the appeal during a media launch for Thursday’s National Evening of Prayer, to be held at Freedom Park in Bridgetown.

Drawing on decades of prison ministry, McClean stressed that incarceration alone does not address the root causes of criminal behaviour.

He said: “As long as I can remember, [we’ve been] going to prisons, teaching, preaching, ministering and seeking by God’s grace to bring change to the hearts of men,” he said. “Because although we’ve arrested a man… unless something occurs and we change that man’s mind when he returns, it’s going to be the same.”

He pointed to what he described as a high rate of reoffending locally, arguing that more sustained and structured rehabilitation programmes are needed both inside and outside prison walls.

“It’s not that the church has not been doing anything, but what we need… is continuous programmes in prison that have a primary focus on rehabilitation and programmes that will continue outside of prison,” he said.

McClean highlighted his own experience running a reintegration initiative aimed at inmates in their final year before release, preparing them for life beyond incarceration. While the programme included counselling and support from professionals, he said its success was ultimately limited by societal resistance.

“Here lies the problem…the problem is society itself,” he said. “If society really wants to see a change, there must be a change in our mindsets.”

He recounted efforts to secure employment opportunities for former inmates, which were often unsuccessful:

“I took inmates out of prison and asked [businesses] to give persons a chance. The answer was point blank no.”

Without access to jobs or training, McClean warned that many ex-offenders are left with few viable options upon release.

“If there’s no job opportunities, where do they go? So we are part of the problem,” he said. “Once they get in crime, then they’re stigmatised and when they return from prison, there’s no way for them to go…so they return right back to where they were and then the crime continues.”

The pastor called on both the government and the private sector to play a more active role in supporting reintegration efforts.

“There must be a mindset change that persons that come out of prison can find a chance – a chance and opportunity that they can get back into society and will not have to go back to a life of crime.”

(SB)