I don't know how much it costs the taxpayers of this country to feed prisoners, patients in hospitals, infirmaries, places of safety and students in schools. I suspect however that this figure might be in the hundreds of millions if not billions.

In these harsh economic times, the Government has to borrow money to pay for money borrowed, rendering it incapable of paying our teachers, nurses etc. The minister of finance says that this cannot continue, but it will take much more than talk, budget cuts and downsizing the public sector to solve this problem.

What has been the average population of our prisons for the last ten years? How much of our hard-earned money do we give to the state to feed many who committed crimes, some of them against us? I submit that the Government of this country needs to establish 'Farm Prisons' or 'Prison Farms'.

Idle lands

Prisoners of the state should be put to work in high-tech facilities (greenhouses etc), to produce enough food to feed themselves, hospitals, schools, infirmaries etc. the aim should be to have a self-sufficient system within three years. We have enough idle lands in the country to feed the Caribbean and even more now that the bauxite industry has collapsed.

After self-sufficiency is achieved, prison farming must be done for national consumption and for the export market. Prisons should not be a burden on the citizens of this country. Instead, they should be profitable entities.

Professionals

There are enough accountants in prison to do the books of all hospitals and schools; and there are enough computer professionals to service the IT departments of government facilities. There are enough tradesmen and women to carry out construction, repairs and maintenance of government facilities.

The benefits would be tremendous for all the stakeholders. The burden on the taxpayer would be eased, much needed repairs and maintenance would be carried out, much-needed state funds would be diverted to other critical areas, much progress would be made with the issue of food security and the army that we are feeding would get something to do as it relates to supervision of these prisoners. The question is not, "can we do this?", the question is, "can we afford not to do it?"

I am, etc.,

DAREN LARMOND

Optilearn1@yahoo.com