On February 10 — Tuesday morning — I visited the Westgate Campus, as per the schedule of the Personal Empowerment Circle. This initiative has involved a small team of community volunteers committing to a monthly engagement with those incarcerated at that facility over the past six years.

On that visit, circumstances resulted in the Circle only involving a single resident and myself, engaged in deep dialogue for more than an hour in the facility’s chapel. To say that this conversation proved inspiring for me would be an understatement. I’m sharing this encouraging light with the wider community, given the reality that the human family is living through some unprecedented dark times.

There’s no need to recount the genocide proceeding with impunity, elites ignoring international law, masked security forces attacking civilians, boats bombed — the list goes on.

That diet of news is promoting a sense of collective despair.

However, my visit to Westgate on February 10 proved to be restorative for me. I’m sharing it with the hope that it could offer something positive for our wider community.

This most recent opportunity is not the only time that I have glimpsed this light, even among those most marginalised in our society. In fact, the foundational premise for this initiative is — as we share with those choosing this opportunity — that the mistake that they have made in their lives does not have to define who they are. We share with them that even some of the heroes of the Bible had been guilty of murder before they opened to a journey of transformation, thus making significant contributions to society.

A few years ago, I was driving two other volunteers homeward from Westgate when one of them commented on his feelings about the Circle. This retired businessman reminded us that his senior role in one of the Island’s larger businesses had led to his working in various parts of the globe, and that those professional conversations had not been any more meaningful than those that he was enjoying in the Circle.

On February 10, the exemplary inmate with whom I was dialoguing made a strong case for correctional institutions to have solid and comprehensive programmes to facilitate the restoration of those incarcerated. Pointing out that since all inmates will eventually return to the wider society, their restoration was in the interest of all involved.

He went on to point out that a part of the challenge was financial. However, he contended that this comes down, at least in part, to priorities. He went on to note our culture’s preoccupation with a punitive approach rather than one that is restorative.

I supported his contention, pointing to the legacy upon which our Western societies have been built — post-slavery, colonial, hierarchical.

That said, in Bermuda we have the opportunity to choose the path of promoting a restorative approach, given that optimising the potential of all lives will benefit our entire community.