{"id":391702,"date":"2023-05-16T06:06:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=391702"},"modified":"2023-05-16T06:06:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T20:06:53","slug":"doc-reinstating-programs-to-aid-inmates-rehab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/doc-reinstating-programs-to-aid-inmates-rehab\/","title":{"rendered":"DOC reinstating programs to aid inmates\u2019 rehab"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Department of Corrections Commissioner Anthony C. Torres shakes the hand of Karidat\u00a0Social Services executive director Lauri Ogumoro last Friday. The CNMI Office of the Governor, first lady Wella S. Palacios, and the CNMI Office of Women\u2019s Affairs presented gift baskets to\u00a0Karidat\u00a0Social Services, DOC, and the Substance Abuse, Addiction, and Rehabilitation HOPE Recovery Center for distribution to mothers utilizing the services of these departments and organizations.\u00a0(OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Department of Corrections is slowly reinstating various programs within the correctional facility to help eligible inmates in their journey to rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

DOC Commissioner Anthony Torres stated that part of his vision for the department is operational excellence and public safety through rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

As part of that vision, Torres has already begun \u201ccleaning house\u201d by confiscating contraband and launching an investigation within the department to get to the bottom of how these contraband were brought in in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This is] part of my vision to provide public safety through rehabilitation and operational excellence. Before I can even get to the rehabilitation phase, I need to clean house. I\u2019ve [been] flipping this place upside down [since I got here],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Once he is satisfied with the investigation, Torres said he will prioritize rehabilitation for inmates. In fact, Torres said, he has begun reinstating program for inmates at DOC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m already slowly bringing in programs like religious Bible studies. We\u2019re working on the first re-entry program with SAR and the HOPE Center. These are things that we\u2019re working on. I\u2019m expanding on the outreach program, we\u2019re working on getting the kitchen back up and running again so that our inmates can start cooking their own food, and the list goes on. Another program I\u2019m looking at expanding is the in-treatment service for inmates who can\u2019t go outside. That\u2019s on my plate. But right now, the security of the institution sets the priority\u2014setting that foundation and getting us to where we need to be\u2014and we\u2019re getting there. For the last three to four months, this place has just been transformed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Torres added that the dedicated staff at DOC also played a huge role in bringing his vision to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff that are committed are just coming out and they appreciate the leadership and we\u2019re just working together. There are good people here who do good things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to rehabilitation programs, Torres said he will also work toward providing more training for the CNMI\u2019s Corrections officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to start prioritizing training as well, getting trainers out here to train our staff to become trainers so we can just train here without having to go out to the mainland as we are in tough times. Getting our trainers to train our personnel to become trainers\u2014that\u2019s part of my vision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a previous interview with Torres, he stated that so far, seven cell phones have been confiscated from inmates and drugs like methamphetamine were also confiscated. Torres said investigation into how these items got inside DOC continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Corrections is slowly reinstating various programs within the correctional facility to help…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":391703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[446],"class_list":["post-391702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-doc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}