More than 200 care packages, valued at approximately $1.5 million, were handed over for inmates of the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre and female wards of the South Camp Juvenile Remand and Correctional Centre in Kingston on Thursday.

The packages, which contain toiletries, sanitisers, face masks, among other items, were provided by members of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica (LMAJ) Kingston chapter, as part of their annual Christmas outreach to inmates.

It was the first time that the support was being extended to the girls at the South Camp facility.

In his address at the handover ceremony at Tower Street, Custos of Kingston, Hon. Steadman Fuller, said the provision of the care packages by the JPs is intended to ensure that the inmates have essential items.

He noted that

“one of the duties of the JP is to look after those persons who need care, and I want to applaud all the JPs who have gone out to provide care”.

Acting Commissioner, Department of Correctional Services (DCS), Dr Marc Thomas, in his remarks at the ceremony held at the Tower Street facility expressed gratitude for the “generous donation”, which, he noted, will assist in bolstering supplies at the institution. 

He said that the Kingston JPs have provided care packages to the inmates at Tower Street annually for the past 10 years.

 “The DCS is more than grateful for this and the inmates have constantly expressed their gratitude, as well, when persons put out the effort to provide these donations. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The inmates appreciate it, the staff appreciate it and it will go a long way in bringing some Christmas cheer,”

he said.