The announcement from the Ministry of Agriculture in Antigua and Barbuda that a committee has been formed to upgrade the prison farm is a welcome development in the rehabilitation of the many young persons who find themselves incarcerated, having lost their way as they opted to turn to crime for a "living".

Apart from rehabilitation, it will also serve as a way for, as the country’s Agriculture Minister Hilson Baptiste says, "…… the strong men that are in prison could work hard to feed themselves and the other inmates to ease the pressure off the government budget."

The optimum phrase here is "work hard". So often prisoners are sentenced to whatever amount of time and hard labour, but ultimately wind up spending a so called "jail holiday" wiling away their time at the prison without lifting a finger in the line of hard labour and at the state’s expense.

There was a time when prisoners could be seen doing their time through work at the government house, on the roads, taking care of landscaping at government properties and the like; but somehow these jail duties seem to have dwindled to almost nothing and it is a rare sight to see a prison gang on the road or doing public projects these days.

But beyond all this, the fact is that prisoners need to be rehabilitated if they are to be returned to the community, turn from a life of crime and make a meaningful contribution. As the minister of agriculture says, "This project (the prison farm upgrade) will provide opportunities for inmates to attain skills training and develop a better attitude to enhance their moral values."

With the continuing spiralling crime rate it becomes incumbent on the authorities to develop projects, like the prison farm, that can be beneficial in pointing the way forward, so that prisoners can see that there is a fruitful and legal way in which they can exist in the community rather than resorting to a life of crime.

It is also necessary to have these prison programmes, which should be mandatory for all prisoners, so that they realise that their stay in prison is not just a "vacation" until they are out and return to their illegal ways. When statistics are taken into consideration, the "rap" sheet on many of those incarcerated is so long from repeat offences, that it is obvious that they do not consider doing "time" a big deal.

Jail time should be punishment for crimes committed in that it denies the basic freedoms that a person enjoys in the normal run of life, but it should also be a deterrent and, at the same time, a learning experience that a life of crime is not the desired way.

The attitude of most, who find themselves in prison, is that they can feed off the labour of others with the easy buck and the "get rich quick" criminal schemes. People who resort to these methods need to be taught that hard work (labour) is the best way forward in achieving goals, no matter how great or small. They also need to be taught that the greatest resource comes from self and the satisfaction of achieving what you work for honestly and which allows the freedoms that prison can never supply.

The prison farm project will also help to bring to the fore that Antigua and Barbuda or any other OECS needs to look about providing food for itself as a nation.

The country may never be completely self-sufficient in this area, but with a serious effort being made at getting back to agriculture, it could go a long way towards cutting down on the import bill now faced for food products.

Our prisoners can show the way forward in this aspect and at the same time earn their keep in a productive way, beneficial to all.