Former Soca Monarch Jonathan’ Ninja Dan’ St Rose has appealed to the Saint Lucia business sector and the government to support the rehabilitation of inmates at the Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF).
St Rose appealed last week as RISE St. Lucia Inc. partnered with the Saint Lucia Boxing Association, Black Heart Productions, the local business community, and the government in presenting sporting goods, including boxing gloves, to the BCF.
“I would like to plead with the corporate people on the outside and the government for all hands on deck in this initiative,” he told St Lucia Times.
The co-founding director of RISE observed that there had been an upsurge of violence at the BCF, and the situation needed correction.
“I believe that boxing as a force for rehabilitation is a good vibe that’s happening in prison right now, not only for just boxing sake but for fitness and to make sure they have a healthy immune system for this fight against COVID-19,” the musician asserted.
St Rose was released from prison in 2017 after serving some eight years for the February 2009 stabbing death of Dwayne’ Chubby’ James.
The release of the former Soca Monarch and two co-defendants came after the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court accepted an appeal against a 20 year-jail sentence.
St Rose expressed condolences to the relatives of the deceased for all they had suffered and said the experience had left him a better man.
During last week’s presentation of sporting goods to the BCF, St Rose said he was elated to be part of the initiative.
He noted that as a former inmate himself, he is aware of the perception outside the walls of the BCF that it is a rehabilitation facility.
“But the truth is, and the fact is, it is just a stamp. There is nothing rehabilitative about being incarcerated and you going on the outside there. There is nothing in place, no support system. Everything is just word of mouth, and everything is just a stamp.” St Rose declared.
He described himself as a living example of a performer who had nothing in place to support him emotionally, mentally, or financially upon his release from incarceration and, as a result, had to rehabilitate himself.
“So for me now from this self-rehabilitation, I decided to come back and teach the inmates and talk to the inmates and motivate them how I was able to do it,” he told St Lucia Times.
Headline photo: Internet stock image
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