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Piparo Empowerment Centre

The Piparo Empowerment Centre (PEC) is a rehabilitation centre established by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on July 18th 2001. The programme is geared towards: male citizens 18 years and older, socially displaced individuals who voluntarily seek treatment, chronic substance abusers and drug addicts who are free from pending legal matters. They must be in physical health. PEC’s mission statement is:

“To provide for the total rehabilitation and empowerment of persons affected by substance abuse, employing the principles of responsible love and concern, with the highest standards, using all available resources and networking with relevant agencies.”

Their focus is to address the growing rate of substance abuse, both alcohol and drug addiction, as well as the rising crime situation, with an increasing number of offences being drug related. The major objectives of PEC are therefore: abstinence from drugs, sobriety, recovery and social re-integration, with the intention that the affected individuals can confidently re-enter into society and to keep them from being crime and prison recidivists. In this larger sense, the PEC is a crime reduction and civic enhancement project. It seeks to “empower” its residents to take “better charge of their own lives.”

To develop a “fully functional individual” the PEC provides classes to improve literacy skills, computer skills as well as vocational and technical skills. These programmes are conducted by educational organizations based in Trinidad and Tobago who partner with PEC’s programmes. The skills provide the residents at the centre have the opportunity to have “an alternative life,” to look forward to instead of a life of crime and addiction.

The success rate is currently between 12-20%. From its inception in 2001, the Centre has housed four hundred (400) residents. The longest period that any resident stayed was twenty months. Generally about ten percent (10%) of the residents have stayed for the nine (9) month period while the other ninety percent (90%) stayed at the centre for less than nine months.

Contact Details
Contact person: Professor Ramesh Deosaran, Director for Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCCJ), University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus.
Telephone: 1 (868) 645-3232 ext 3352, 3355
Fax: 1 (868) 645-1020
Email: rdeosaran@fss.uwi.tt