Addressing a gathering at the second staging of the Department of Correctional Services annual Wellness Programme at the Spanish Town Prison Oval last Thursday, the minister said the time had come for groups to invest in their health, as it was critical to financial well-being.

"It was a very good partnership that the trade unions had put forward to the correctional department. This was done also through the efforts of the former commissioner, Major Richard Reese," said MacMillan.

Acting Commissioner of Corrections June Spence-Jarrett said the health scheme, which covers correctional and probation officers, and probation after-care officers, applies to immediate relatives as well.

Your health

"With the Pan American Health Organisation projecting that in the next 20 years the death rates for preventable illnesses will increase threefold, we think that working on your health is very important," Spence-Jarrett said.

Observations of personnel not adequately preserving their health, said the corrections chief, influenced the formation of a committee to drive policy.

SOURCE: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090324/news/news5.html

Spence-Jarrett declined to state the cost of the scheme.