jamarchConsul General of Jamaica in New York, Mrs. Geneive Brown Metzger has called on the Jamaican community in the USA to remember those nationals who are incarcerated at this time.
In an emotional address to inmates at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in UpState New York, on Friday, January 30, 2009, Mrs. Brown Metzger said that the Consulate will continue to reach out where necessary and possible.
She described as “an incredible generous gesture,” the presentation of a check for just over $1,100.00 from the inmates at the medium security facility who are members of the Caribbean African Unity (CAU) organization to be used for hurricane relief and rehabilitation in Jamaica.
“This is an especially profound and appreciated gesture because of your circumstance. I am encouraging each and every one of you to be strong and to know that you are not forgotten by the Jamaican Consulate.”
Consul General Brown Metzger praised the prison administration – represented at the meeting by Superintendent Raymond J. Cunningham, Staff Advisor Charles Davis and Jean King – for their leadership in allowing the inmates to, “organize themselves and be able to raise funds from their limited means (commissary account)”
In making the presentation to CG Brown Metzger, Ricardo Richards, a Vice President of the CAU, thanked his fellow inmates for their contribution to the effort.
The Consular delegation included, Deputy Consul General Tracey Blackwood and Social Worker Carmeta A. Lindo, founder/executive director of FURI – Family Unification Resettlement Initiative, a NYC-based advocacy group whose core mission is the reintegration of deportees in the society.
Just under ten percent of the nine hundred inmate population is Jamaican.
Media Writer
