St Lucia Placed 3^rd in Group 7 of International Online Prison Chess Championship

By St. Lucia Chess federation

St. Lucia Placed 3^rd in the Online Intercontinental Prison Chess Championship. After the inmates at the Bordelais Correctional Facility participated in the tournament for the very first time.

A team of four male inmates at the Bordelais Correctional Facility participated in the Online Intercontinental Prison Chess Championship on the 13^th October 202. St. Lucia Place third in group 7, against teams Argentina, El Salvador, Uruguay, Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago.

 The St. Lucia Chess federation started their Chess in Prisons program in May of this year, which was well received by the inmates and administrator at Bordelais.

Officer Yasmin Peters from the Bordelais Correctional Facility stated, ” The inmates are very enthusiastic about chess and I was impressed by their level of discipline. We plan to continue using chess in our rehabilitation efforts and we are grateful to the Saint Lucia Chess Federation (SLCF) for remembering Bordelais”. She has been working along with the SLCF and the inmates and is very proud of their efforts especially in such a short space of time.

The inmates were very grateful for the opportunity to represent their country and to the SLCF for the initiating the program.

The president of the St. Lucia Chess Federation Tris-Ann Richards congratulated the inmates and applauded them for their dedication. She stressed the importance of chess in society and rehabilitation. Noting that studies have shown that chess decreases the rate of recidivism. She also made a special appeal to corporate St. Lucia to support their Chess in prisons program. The St Lucia Chess Federation plans to continue their efforts in hopes that the program will help to lower the crime rate in St.Lucia and to establish a chess program at the Boys Training Center.