The second and third offering of the Sycamore Tree Project has now been completed and this time, the ladies of Her Majesty’s Prison Fairbanks participated. The Prison Chaplain, Ms. Cathy Gomez facilitated the programme for 19 inmates in both establishments. Chaplaincy volunteers, a psychology intern, prison officers and other staff participated in the programme whenever possible.

The Sycamore Tree Project is a Prison Fellowship International programme (pfi.org) based on restorative justice, bringing offenders and victims together to restore broken relationships. Those relationships may be with one’s self, family members, friends, neighbours or even strangers.

The female inmates held a celebration ceremony on July 8^th at HMP Fairbanks, and the male inmates of HMP Northward on July 13^th. Volunteers from partner agencies NWDA and NDC were in attendance, as well as family members of the inmates. The ceremony at HMP Fairbanks proved to be a very emotional experience with read expressions of regret and pleas for forgiveness from some. One inmate read her letter to her former employer who she had wronged and expressed her sincere apologies to him citing greed and selfishness as her motivation. She said that the whole experience hurt not only her employer whose trust she had broken, but also made victims of those she cared most about, her family. She stated she now recognised the error of her ways and the full impact of her actions. The inmate didn’t know if her employer would ever forgive her but through the programme, she knew she had to do what she could to make things right.

Although the Sycamore Tree Project is designed to bring victims of crime and offenders together, this continues to prove to be a challenge in the Cayman context. It was recognised in the initial stages of the programme that persons in the community were uncomfortable with meeting offenders for mediation and possible reconciliation. However, as this is ideally how prisoners are able to benefit most from the programme, Prison Director, Neil Lavis said that the Prison Service remains committed to conducting the programme as designed and will continue to encourage victims to engage in the progress.

The participants of the Sycamore Tree Project experienced deep revelations. Ms. Gomez emphasised that although persons are in prison for committing offences against others and the community, each one is also a victim, having also experienced hurts at the hands of others. Likewise, everyone is an offender in that we have all hurt others at some point in our lives. The inmates had exercises and discussions over the 8 week programme that helped them to engage in discussions such as responsibility, confession and repentance, forgiveness, making amends and reconciliation. They also explored the impact their choices and behaviour had on the lives of others. The Sycamore Tree Programme goes beyond prison sentences, fines, and rehabilitation efforts and has the potential to reduce crime rates and allow whole communities to heal.

The Prison Service continues to offer programmes and opportunities to prisoners to enable them to make changes in their lives in preparation for returning to life outside of prison.

Pictured:

Female prisoners who completed the Sycamore Tree Project during celebration attended by Ministry of Home Affairs representatives, Prison staff, partner agencies and family members.