Concerns have been raised that a centre which offered life skills training and job placements for prisoners has been closed since June.Government announced yesterday that the Transitional Living Centre [TLC] will re-open in April.However, former workers at the centre questioned why the valuable service has been unavailable for so long.The centre opened in 2001, but shut down on June 30 2012 when Government did not renew its contract with the US-based service provider Liberty Behavioural Heath Corporation.Eight Bermudian employees were made redundant.The centre accommodated 15 male residents for the nine-12 month residential programme which was followed by six months of aftercare while the ex-prisoner re-enters society.Sharon Swan used to run the centre with other staff members including Bermuda’s internationally acclaimed footballer Clyde Best. It offered drug and alcohol counselling, anger management counselling, life skills training and job placement for inmates approaching release from prison. The average participant had been incarcerated more than four times.When The Royal Gazette inquired about the status of the TLC prior to the Government announcement this week, Ms Swan said: “I don’t know why it remains closed. The contract with Liberty Behavioural Health Corporation finished on June 30 and it was not renewed. My understanding at that time was that the Department of Corrections planned to reopen it. I certainly think it’s something that’s very much needed.”She shared information from the TLC’s last annual report showing that in its 12 years of operation, it assisted nearly 200 inmates in re-entering society. Only 23 percent of the 64 participants who were paroled after successfully completing treatment at the TLC were reincarcerated within the first two years of discharge. Only eight percent more were reincarcerated within seven years. A total of 97 percent were gainfully employed upon release to the community.Mr Best said: “When it closed and all of us were made redundant we were told the prison was going to be taking it over. I think it’s a sad thing to have happened because we had a lot of success with the programme. We turned a lot of people’s lives around.”At a press conference yesterday, Attorney General Kim Wilson said the TLC will reopen in April 2013, and will be staffed by Bermudians.“Our contract with Liberty had been running for ten years,” she explained. “We felt we could best use the capabilities that we have here in Bermuda’s correctional populace and their skill sets, as opposed to outsourcing it to a US based company.”She added that many who would have been catered to by the TLC programme have been in the Right Living House at the St George’s farm work facility.A restructuring committee has recommended changing TLC’s programme to cater to high-risk offenders, as opposed to the low-risk clients it dealt with previously.The Minister did not explain why the centre has been closed for the past three months and why it will take another six to reopen it.She also revealed that a Dockyard-based Substance Abuse Treatment Co-Ed Facility, combining both men’s and women’s treatment, will be completed during this fiscal year. It will have an increased capacity up from 12 beds to 24 for men, and from eight to 12 for women.Sen Wilson said: “I don’t think that there is anyone who doesn’t know someone who has been affected by substance abuse. And I believe that it is important to demonstrate that this Government is doing what it can to address this critically important social need.”