Government needs to put its money where its mouth is when it talks about reforming criminals says Prison Union leader Craig Clarke.

He welcomed Premier Ewart Brown's decision to hold a recent Cabinet meeting at Westgate but he said shortstaffing meant prisoners were not getting the help they needed.

"The Department of Corrections has one psychologist for about 300 inmates and a limited amount of case workers."

And bright and willing inmates were left idle because of a lack of meaningful programmes, said the Prison Officers Association president. "We need to give inmates more things to do. When I travelled to BVI I saw what they did with less resources but more imagination than a country that boasts the wealth of Bermuda.

"The inmates were building the facility. We can give them incentives to build things around the jail.

"The prison farm is in deplorable condition. You got plenty of inmates sitting around there everyday.

:They can start revamping that and be rewarded for what they do.

"We have a prison farm but I don't see any livestock, I see some vegetation."

"Some inmates want to work. If we could give them something constructive to do it would be a help."

Some of the activities at the prison were hobby based, such as ceramics, rather than offering inmates the chance to get certified in a trade which would give them a real chance of making a living, said Mr. Clarke.

"If we could form a bond with some of the companies like the HWPs who want to put on a programme to sponsor an inmate to learn or send a mechanic up there so people can get certified — those programmes which give someone a career, something to fall back on. We have a lot of bright inmates up there.

"Statistics show the more educated a person becomes while be incarcerated the less chance they have of re-offending."

Westgate has a mechanical shop said Mr. Clark which hadn't been active for months because budget constraints were biting.

He said the department was pushing for certified programmes but it was still in the infancy stage.

"When the Premier went into Westgate and had a Cabinet meeting he said he wanted these people to return to society without be ostracised.

"But if they are going to be accepted we must rehabilitate — that means resources may need to be given."

Eighteen new prison officer recruits start today but the department was still under-strength as more people left, said Mr. Clarke.

"We never really get up to operational strength.

"It is a concern. We always work with what we have and make do."

He said the prefab at the prison farm meant to separate civil debtors from other inmates had been empty and unmanned since it was put up about a year ago because of a lack of staff.

"But there comes a time when Government has to recognise if they want to talk about rehabilitation in Bermuda society we have to give the Department of Corrections the tools they need."

A number of recidivists were behind most of the burglaries — pointing to the fact that behaviour was not being changed, said Mr. Clarke.

He said a unit to house mentally ill inmates had been promised after the board of inquiry into the problems of the prison service in 2001 but nothing had been done.

"The last time I checked we had about 15 inmates at Westgate alone who had psychological problems who need specialised care.

"But yet they are still sent to us, but we are expected as officers not trained in psychological matters to care for these inmates. It can't be right."

He said such inmates were being controlled via medication rather than helped.

"Without having a psychiatrist or somebody to talk to what does medication do? It keeps them calm and stable and sometimes officers have to be involved in holding someone down to give them an injection.

"They should be in psych ward somewhere or facilities should be build to deal with their needs.

"Even if we release them after their sentence is done what good will it do? They will only come right back. It would be better to treat the problem while they are in prison or while they are in our custody.

"Because all they will do is come right out and re-offend. That doesn't serve the needs of the taxpayers or the inmates."

He said much had been promised in the Throne Speech on work programmes and drug strategies which needed to be carried through.

Bermuda was storing up problems which would only put a further strain on the prison system, believes Mr. Clarke.

"Look at the housing crisis — children are dispersed all over Bermuda. We don't have a comprehensive drugs strategy in Bermuda. Look at education - if we are only graduating 50 percent of our children then the criminal justice system the numbers will rise in years to come.

"In the next ten years people will be coming for more heinous crimes than people thought could happen in a country like Bermuda because of the way society is moving.

"Inmates coming to us will not get better unless we change the socio-economic factors in this country. So the Department of Corrections must evolve so we are ready for the people who are coming to us."