News that Government's halfway house for offenders will not open this year came as no surprise to the Opposition and the National Liberal Party.

"The United Bermuda Party Government has never really been committed to rehabilitation,'' Shadow Social Services Minister Renee Webb said after learning that the facility is not expected to open until next spring due to a lack of funds and other resources.

The halfway house -- to be set up at Clarence Terrace near Westgate Correctional Facility -- was expected to prepare inmates for re-entry into the mainstream.

It was to allow them, three to four months prior to being released, to find employment and resume daily responsibilities. But they would have to return to the facility at night and weekends.

The facility was also expected to house others who run afoul of the law, but did not receive custodial sentences.

Government accepted the concept of the halfway house when it took on board Judge Stephen Tumim's report on Bermuda's criminal justice system in the early nineties.

Three years ago a comprehensive paper on the scheme was completed and presented to then Social Services Minister Quinton Edness.

And current Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira in May promised that the project, aimed at slashing the number of repeat offenders, would open at the end of July.

But his Ministry recently confirmed that the halfway house was not expected to be up and running until the next financial year.

Social Services Permanent Secretary Donald Scott explained that funds to renovate Clarence Terrace were allocated late in the budget and no money was available for setting up the halfway house programme.

He also noted that Works and Engineering, responsible for carrying out the work, were preoccupied with preparing school buildings for September under the reformed system.

But Ms Webb, speaking from overseas yesterday, told The Royal Gazette she believed that Government was never serious about setting up the halfway house.

"I think it is all electioneering,'' she said.

Once again Government had shown "a lack of foresight'', she added, referring to the senior secondary school which was set up before a senior school curriculum was designed.

Ms Webb also stressed that programmes to prepare prisoners for release should be implemented in prison.

"The concentration of such programmes should be at the prisons,'' she said.

"And attendance should be mandatory.

"...If no programmes are put in place so they can modify their behaviour, it's just a waste of taxpayers' money.

"We might as well throw our hands up in the air.'' NLP chairman Charles Jeffers said it appeared that once pressure on Government was eased, the decision was made to make the halfway house a lower priority.

"It simply proves that the UBP government is more concerned with doing those things which they perceive will win votes rather than those things which are in the best interest of Bermuda in general,'' he stated.

No surprise over halfway house delay "...This further delay could lead to more crime and recidivism as inmates finish their sentences and are released into the community without being adequately prepared and brings into question Government's serious commitment to the concept of rehabilitation.'' Meanwhile, The Royal Gazette has learned that the halfway house, once set up, will operate with a modified programme.

The original programme, written by Salvation Army with the help of Prison Fellowship Bermuda and Prison authorities, was "too costly'', Prisons Commissioner Edward Dyer revealed.

While unable to supply the figures of such a programme yesterday, Mr. Dyer said the original programme included cleaners and cooks for the facility.

"Our idea was that if these fellows are going to be living on their own, they should learn the basic skills as well'' he explained. "So we're not having a cook or a number of other people who were impacting on the cost.'' The modified programme focussed on getting the offender settled in the appropriate accommodation in event that there is none available when they are released, Mr. Dyer further explained.

"Also you're looking at just that kind of fathering that might be necessary at that point which you really can't do from the inside of a prison,'' he added. Offenders will be charged an undetermined fee to live in the facility for up to six months.

Mr. Dyer said it was still too early to know the number of persons the halfway will serve and the cost of running the revised programme.

And he noted that while the programme had changed, it did not exclude Salvation Army nor Prison Fellowship "forever''.

When contacted yesterday, representatives for Prison Fellowship and Salvation Army said they would be more than willing to assist those in the halfway house.

"If Salvation Army was asked to do something by the Prisons Department, they would see if they had the manpower to service that,'' the Army's divisional social services director, Calvin Ming said. "But up to this point they have not been asked to assist.'' Prison Fellowship Bermuda's chairman Jack Harris disclosed that he has been working in conjunction with Benedict Associates to develop a "different approach'' to rehabilitation, involving the "The Winning Way'' programme.

The programme, which is being reviewed by Government and the National Drug Commission, aims at producing a change of heart in offenders so that feelings of inequity can be removed through several key factors, including new faith, increased self-esteem and job and life skills.

Mr. Harris explained that the programme deals with six in-depth topics: psychological assessment, an individual profile, personal learning and thinking style profiles, a "highly motivated'' Adventure in Attitudes seminar, a personal review of spirituality, values and ethics; and an extensive in-depth career development profile.

Hoping to set up a pilot programme, involving 12 inmates, by September. Mr.

Harris added that the proposed plan would last some two and a half years.

"After the Winning Way programme, a sort of job counselling will follow so that we would remain in contact with the inmates and their employers in case there are any glitches,'' he said. "Then we would suggest an inmates assistance programme similar to the EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) which would go on for a year. Afterwards they would be able to monitor and assist them for two years.'' Mr. Harris estimated that this would probably cost about $3,500 per inmate.

Bermuda currently spends some $36,000 a year to keep a prisoner behind bars.

"I've been involved with this (prison rehabilitation) for ten years and I can tell you it does not work to just put people in prison,'' Mr. Harris added.

"It just increases the crime rate and increases incarcerations. It takes them off the streets. But it is a feeling of inequity with people who commit crimes. They feel they're not going to get a break from society, so they don't conform to society. They continue to break the law. It's not because they're particularly bad people. It's just that they have no respect for society because society does not respect them.

"Prison just keeps the ball rolling because when they come out, they have even less respect. So you've got to make people respect themselves and they will respect other people.'' While unable to comment in detail on Mr. Harris' plans, Mr. Dyer said they may be able to be factored into the halfway house process.

DRUGS DGS