President pardons 2 prisoners

TWO PRISONERS received the best news of their lives yesterday. They were pardoned by President George Maxwell Richards, just two days before Christmas. There were tears of joy for Marlon Alleyne, 30,  of Princes Town and Trudy Cornwall, 17, of Mayaro, when the news was released at a special function held at the Women’s Prison at Golden Grove yesterday. Alleyne, a father of two, was serving eight years for armed robbery and was imprisoned at the Carrera  Island Prison. He had completed seven years and one month when he was summoned by the superintendent at Carrera to prepare himself to go to the mainland. He never knew why he was going ashore as the pardon was kept as a surprise to him even though his mother Mavis was notified and requested to go to Arouca to get him.

Alleyne was described as a model prisoner with a list of achievements. A former student of Princes Town Senior Comprehensive School, Alleyne left school with one CXC pass. He said this, “left me unemployable, while many of my friends got good jobs.” Alleyne said it was while he was in prison and had time to reflect that he made up his mind to take advantage of the educational programmes, and in 2003 he obtained Grade II passes in English and Math and distinctions in Principles of Business, Information Technology and Social Studies. He then pursued A’ Levels and obtained passes in Computer Science and Business studies. In 2005, he obtained additional CXC passes with distinction in Office Procedures and Electronic Documentation and Management in which he was first in the entire country.

Alleyne has been accepted by the University of the West Indies on a scholarship to pursue a degree in Computer Science and Agri-business Management. Alleyne was a tutor to fellow inmates; he was the assistant manager of the Computer Lab and was a senior teacher at the Carrera Island Prison School. He was also described as the most skilled information Technology teacher in the penal system. Trudy Cornwall  entered prison in 2004 as a 16-year-old having received a five-year sentence for larceny. During that time, she also made good use of her time and participated in developmental programmes.

She caught the eye of Junior Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds, whose portfolio includes prison reform. Cornwall and inmates of the Youth Training Centre were allowed to visit schools and talk to students in prison’s “mentoring programme.” Cornwall was a recent graduate in the prison’s upholstery programme and was judged Miss Women’s Prison 2005, a competition among inmates who were judged on talent, intelligence and other characteristics. Cornwall was also surprised and burst into tears on the announcement by Prisons Commissioner John Rougier at the special gathering. She received a tremendous ovation by fellow inmates and promised that “my life has now changed and I’ll be seeking to improve myself educationally and from the lessons learnt in prison. If I return, it will be to challenge those whom I left behind,” she said tearfully.