Prisons, he was the first individual to hold the post.

Now, six and a half years later, he has been seconded to the position of Transition Coordinator, overseeing the move from Casemates to the new adjacent facility, due to take place later this year. This has meant that since April of last year, inmates have been denied his services. But speaking to Living last week, Dr. Binns explained that his secondment "makes sense'' because it underlines the importance attached by Government to changing the underlying philosophy of incarceration for law breakers.

"The new correctional facility will provide an environment where we can produce a more productive and positive citizen,'' he asserts.

It is no coincidence that Dr. Binns never mentions the word `prison', preferring instead, `Department of Corrections'.

He quotes the first sentence in their new Mission Statement -- "We believe that those in our custody have the potential to change,'' and points out that the aims and goals of the new facility are backed by the recent Tumim Report as well as last April's report by the Correctional Services of Canada.

"We will lose generations of people if we continue the path we have been on.

In the last 40 or 50 years we have done a good job of custodial control, but I can't say we have done a good job of changing things,'' he says. But Dr. Binns says he believes there has been a growing, if gradual awareness in Bermuda that locking people up for non-violent crimes simply doesn't work.

"When I started here, back in '86, my job was to provide some sort of service and help for people. But now we will have a facility that encourages behavioural changes. They must want to change and a life-skills programme will give them that motive. It's difficult to motivate people in a dark, dank room.

We're far more likely to succeed in a setting that gives people hope and some incentive. The emphasis in future will be on training and development.'' He acknowledges that a temporary psychologist was obtained to replace him during this transition period but Government's "spending restraints'' meant the appointment was still awaiting Cabinet review. Meanwhile, Dr. Binns emphasises that the specialist nursing staff of four are providing services in all three facilities.

"I think there is a case for having two psychologists, but we'll have to wait and see what happens in the Budget! Ideally, we would like to see everyone who comes to us for more than six months, but this is not always possible,'' says Dr. Binns, adding that he also provides training and administrative services to prison staff.

He explains that under the new service, people who serve lengthier sentences will be evaluated by all the services and receive a classification according to security risk. This, he says, will govern movement inside and outside the security system. He said: "Then we can identify a person's needs -- for example, medical, educational, vocational, spiritual, recreational, social and psychological -- and then develop a plan to address them.'' He re-states his belief that, ideally, prison should not be the place to effect these changes. "We need to have an emphasis on the social changes that need to be urgently made in this community, so that people don't come here in the first place! We need early identification of potential trouble to try and prevent that happening. And it makes no sense to lock people up, then dump them back into society just the same, or worse than when they came in. Anger and frustration compounds itself and the whole of society is worse off.'' While Dr. Binns' background is not specifically centred on the problems of substance abuse, he stresses that full use is made of community services, such as Montrose, Addiction Services and volunteer 12-step programmes, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

"Some of these volunteers come in to hold sessions and sometimes we make it a condition of release that people have to join a programme of some kind.'' He is adamant that even the most "fantastic'' correctional programmes will not work without the help and support of the community.

"Unless the community is willing to give the changed individual a chance to prove himself, he will eventually come back to us. So the problem's not solely in our hands. It's a community problem and we desperately need the support of people -- teachers, academics, arts and crafts, support groups and any volunteer who is willing to help.'' Derrick Binns could easily have ended up in another career altogether. A talented flute player, who attended Prospect Primary and then Saltus Grammar School, Dr. Binns admits that he could probably have made a career in music.

"But I decided music is a bit risky. You have to be very, very good but you also have to have the lucky break,'' he said.

So he went off to Johns Hopkins where he obtained his degree in psychology and then did his masters and doctorate in Educational/Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University in Long Island, New York.

His wife, Nicola (whom he met in the Senior Year programme at Saltus) has a doctorate in biology, which she now teaches at the Bermuda College.

With two children, Jessica, four, and Adrian who is two, there is little time these days for music.

Asked if he ever found his work depressing, Dr. Binns gives a little sigh: "Well, there are some days that can be depressing. When I first went to the co-ed and senior training school, I would see young people of 16 to about 21.

Then about a year after their release, I would see them back again. That was heart-breaking. You work with them and you know they want to change, but the conditions they return to just aren't conducive to change. I admit they may have made certain unwise choices in their lives but sometimes that has been affected by social circumstances. These are the people who need our help.'' He brightens up as he adds: "But it's also a rewarding job because you have a chance to make an impact on the community. Some people are leaving here and going on to be successful. If there were no hope for these individuals, then it would be very depressing.'' A PRISON FOR THE 1990s -- The new correctional facility at Dockyard, photographed from the old Casemates Prison, is nearing completion.