Opposition MP Robert King echoed the sentiments of an inmate of Westgate who called for an overhaul of the laws governing Bermuda’s prison services to ensure offenders can be safely reintegrated into society.

The Shadow Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, who has more than 30 years’ experience working with offenders, highlighted an opinion piece by the prisoner and an accompanying news article in The Royal Gazette during motion to adjourn in Parliament on Friday.

The inmate spoke of a lack of programmes and resources within the Department of Corrections, and an “unwilling mindset” by some prison officers and officials that hinders education and rehabilitation.

Mr King said: “You have an inmate actually saying there are no programmes, and the mindset of the officers and staff there do not support the rehabilitation of those very persons.

“The inmate is saying that is what the experience is, and talking about having parole and prison reform.

“What I also find interesting is ... we talk about a correctional facility. That creates some confusion, that word was used, it is appropriate, but we have persons who are incarcerated who are not getting the required programmes.

“It feels as though they are being punished because they are not being provided with the mandated services according to the alternatives to incarceration legislation.

“Let it sink in for a moment. We wonder why they are not successful. The fact is, we have a situation where we are saying we are doing certain things but it is not achieving the outcomes.”

The inmate, who wished to remain anonymous, said in his articles that while there were some programmes available at Westgate including distance-learning courses through the Bermuda College’s Apace programme, many were under resourced, lacked instructors or lacked access to the technology required.

Wayne Caines, a Progressive Labour Party backbencher and former Minister of National Security, rose to his feet on a point of order, saying Mr King was inadvertently misleading the House.

“He said there are no programmes. There is a GED programme; an antiviolence programme; the TLC for drug rehabilitation that is at the Co-Ed Correctional facility …” Mr Caines said.

“There is a programme where the young men are learning antiviolence strategies.”

The inmate also spoke about an under subscribed computer programme in place and a gardening programme that is beneficial but could be built upon, while the mechanics and woodwork programmes are lacking instructors.

He said the Apace courses were useful but there was not sufficient access to the computer lab, which had “restrictive” opening hours.

The Government did not provide a list of programmes or Bermuda’s recidivism rate when asked previously by this newspaper.

Mr King, who attended Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, and graduated with a bachelor of arts in law and justice, worked in Correctional Services in Canada in a young offender closed-custody facility as a correctional officer.

In 1996, he worked in Bermuda as an officer in both the young offender and adult facilities.

In 2001, he joined the Department of Court Services, where he was responsible for the assessment and treatment of moderate and high-risk offenders.

He also has a certification in restorative justice.

Mr King said there was no clear pathway for people who had substance use disorders to get services under the umbrella of the National Drug Commission.

“If you had a bad treatment outcome at a previous facility and there is a staff member who maybe you had difficulty with communication, conflicts, other behaviours that would be expected from a person with a chronic history of substance abuse disorder, you may not be received into that programme.”

Ms Caines said Mr King had made a “misstatement”.

He added: “In order to go into the drug treatment programme you must plead guilty first. You only go to prison if you fall foul of the programme. It is an 18-month programme and going to prison is a part of it.

“The only reason you observe it is because people might be remanded in custody.

“When you are remanded in custody after a guilty plea, you get up and say I don’t want to serve the time, I want to go into the therapeutic court so they are on remand, they come back at the appropriate time, do the necessary assessments with the Barc [Bermuda Assessment and Referral Centre] reports and they decide if it is a court they want to go in.”

David Burt said there was a process through the Ministry of Justice to resolve such issues raised rather than talking about it during the motion to adjourn.

The Premier said: “If you want to demonstrate leadership then that is the process of which you follow, using the power of Parliament and what is there.

“Nobody said how great everything is but people recognise and spoke to the matter of progress.

“They [the Opposition] are not perfect either, no one is perfect but we press ahead every single day doing the work.”