In an effort to foster government and civil society collaboration on rehabilitation and corrections programming in The Bahamas, the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Section partnered with the National L.E.A.D. Institute to deliver a corrections-focused study tour for sixteen Bahamian government and civil society representatives January 10-19 in North Carolina. The study tour and observation training opportunity was led by the National L.E.A.D. Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides programs for at-risk youth as well as post-prison/correctional facility inmates, and was funded in part under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a security partnership which seeks to assist governments in improving prison conditions and in increasing educational opportunities for at-risk youth.
The program allowed participants from Her Majesty’s Prison, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the North Eastern Pastors Alliance, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Simpson Penn Center for Boys, the Magistrate’s Court, and the L.E.A.D. Institute to explore best practices and alternative approaches in rehabilitative services with the aim of creating more collaborative and coordinated approach to corrections in The Bahamas. Program topics included alternative sentencing, community and faith-based programs, juvenile offenders, and post-prison re-entry. Upon returning from the United States, L.E.A.D. Institute’s President and CEO commented that the trip “exceeded all expectations.”
