Prisons, as Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister said this week, should be in the rehabilitation business.

But there has to be some recognition that there are times when helping inmates to rebuild their lives can have a terrible effect, no matter how well meaning the efforts are, on the victims of the crimes.

The story about Sharina Anne Tuzo in yesterday's Royal Gazette is a case in point.

Ms Tuzo is in prison for the manslaughter of Saed Young. She was convicted because she stood by and did nothing to protect the child, who was in her care, even though she knew her boyfriend was attacking him and caused his death.

Now she wishes to pursue a career in health care working with children and to that end has enrolled in a course at the Bermuda College.

In a cruel irony, Saed's mother, Roshea Young Lewis, is in the same course.

The first question that has to be answered is whether a person with a conviction of this kind should be allowed to pursue this kind of career, regardless of how reformed she may be, and no matter how remorseful she is.

This is a question that should be decided now, before she embarks on a course in which she may never be allowed to practise what she has learned. Invariably, members of the public will be nervous about putting themselves or their children in her care. That may be unfair, and Ms Tuzo may well be a model example of rehabilitation, but it may also be the reality of the situation.

There are other ways that she can perform a service to the community without causing fear and suspicion. One would have expected the prison authorities to dissuade an embezzler from pursuing a qualification in banking; there is little difference here.

If the prisons do not accept this principle, however, then they should consider the feelings of Ms Young Lewis.

There are people who meet and forgive those responsible for the deaths of their children and they deserve the world's admiration.

But it is entirely Ms Young Lewis' decision as to whether she should share a room or even a campus with Ms Tuzo. She has, by all accounts, chosen not to and in this case her wishes should be respected.

By all accounts, that is now happening and the Home Affairs Ministry has stated that steps will be taken to ensure that Ms Young Lewis is not in the same classroom as Ms Tuzo. In addition, Mr. Lister has ordered an investigation into the whole episode.

That is the least the Government can do - and it should have been done weeks ago. Even so, it may not be enough.

Ms Young Lewis already has to live with the fact that her son is dead. In this case, she is as much the victim as Saed, and in this case the victim's rights must come first.