Training on how to manage and collect intelligence within a prison setting is now underway with a number of selected prison staff participating.

The training, which started on Monday and will go on for the whole week, is being delivered by Benjamin Lawelin from the UNODC.

To open the training the Superintendent of Seychelles Prison, Raymond St. Ange, welcomed the continued engagement of the UNODC and thanked the officers for their interest and contributions to date so as to see a better prison service.

The UNODC and the Seychelles Prison Service have a long history of cooperation and support on many levels.

“Earlier in the year we submitted our training plan which identified several areas of need. Gathering intelligence in a prison setting was an area deemed quite important for obvious reasons. The INTEL training being delivered this week will certainly compliment and support other training and operational approaches that we are undertaking, all with the aim of improving security in general,” Chief Inspector Sam Dodin, Information Officer and Head of Supply & Logistics, from the Seychelles Prison Service said.

Training for the remainder of 2019 will continue to cover weapons safety and safe use as well as First Aid and CPR, to name but a few.

Inmates brought back for interviews and further assessments

Inmates and a number of staff assigned to the prison facility on Coetivy Island were brought back to Montagne Posée Prison yesterday, as the Seychelles Prison Service (SPS) conducts a review of its operations on the island.

The review will as well provide the SPS an opportunity to assess any information that it has received concerning possible compromise or breaches to its operations on the island.

The review and further assessment of inmates currently participating in the programme on Coetivy Island will take approximately one month.

Renovation work on the first inmate cells nears completion at Montagne Posée Prison male block

With the aim of improving conditions at the Montagne Posée prison, the first completely renovated inmate cells will soon come back online within the male block at the prison.

This project undertaken by the Seychelles prison service (SPS) under the direction of Chief Inspector Alexi Adrienne, head of the Maintenance and Projects Department within the SPS, will eventually see all inmate cell blocks within both the male block and the Secure Incarceration Unit (SIU) repaired and improved.

The embassy of the United States of America has announced the selection of Elsa Nourrice, the principal probation officer and head of the prison rehabilitation service, for an International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on ‘U.S. Penal System and Reform’ (African Regional Program).

She is among the 17 selected candidates for this three-week program of workshops, meetings, and networking events.

In the U.S. Ms Nourrice will develop her expertise and make new connections.

The program will take place in five cities, namely Washington DC, Sante Fe (New Mexico), and Miami (Florida) from August 19 to September 6, 2019.

Ms Nourrice has become the face of the Seychelles prison service for rehabilitation and communicates to the public the various programs taking place in the prison.

The late founding president of democratic republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, once famously said: “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

In commemoration of the Nelson Mandela International Day, the Seychelles Prison Service in collaboration with its partners such as the Ministry of Family Affairs, Agency for Social Protection and the Prison Advisory Board, organised a half-day workshop yesterday for the prisons management team as well as a group of inmates.

The Seychelles Prison Service has announced the passing away of inmate Chanick Kilindo.

Inmate Kilindo passed away at the Seychelles Hospital on Sunday June 9, 2019 following a long hospital admission.

Inmate Kilindo was serving a three-year sentence and was due for release on April 16, 2021.

The management, staff and inmates of the Seychelles Prison Service share their sympathy and condolences with the Kilindo family.