Shadow Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess is demanding that Government comes clean on the state of Bermuda's prisons, claiming Government and Police statements on the issue of overcrowding at Westgate are contradictory.

“I'm having difficulties with the arithmetic,” he said yesterday.

Government claims the alternatives to incarceration (ATIs) are working, he said, and Police statistics show that crime is down.

Even the public seems to feel that many people who should be sent to jail for their crimes are being set free by the court system, he said.

“Yet the prison officers are saying the prison is over-crowded. It doesn't add up.”

If everything Government and Police are saying is true, he said: “I want to know how could the officers be stretched to no end with crowded prisons. We've got officers stretched to the limits by their own admission.”

According to prison statistics, Westgate's full capacity is 208 prisoners.

Outside of that 208, there are a further 12 cells set aside for separating certain prisoners from others (for administration or security reasons).

In October, 212 prisoners were incarcerated at the prison, and in November the total reached 219. This overcrowding means that the 12 cells set aside are no longer available for their proper purpose.

“You have serious criminals mingling with people on remand for much lesser crimes,” said Mr. Burgess.

This effectively leads to the risk of taking someone who may be at a crossroads in their life, and introducing them to people who may lead them very much astray, he said.

The problem is further complicated by the seeming lack of prison staff. MPs were told in the House of Assembly last Friday that prison officer resignations and departures were normal, Mr. Burgess said.

“But the Prison Officers Association (POA) is saying they're greater than normal.” The UBP MP also expressed concern over comments from POA head, Michael Tuzo, that under-staffing and over-crowding at the prison is affecting the health of staff.

“It's fundamentally wrong,” said Mr. Burgess. “It's a burden on the prison officers.”

And when the prison officers cannot do their jobs properly, he said, rehabilitation suffers and the burden spreads to society as a whole.

“Somebody's got to come clean on exactly where we are,” Mr. Burgess challenged.

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