From Turks and Caicos Weekly News

HER Majesty’s Prison (HMP) in Grand Turk has received some very harsh criticism from former prison superintendent Steve Barrett.

Barret, 55, now serves as the interim prisons director of Her Majesty’s Prison in the Cayman Islands.

He exited his post in the Turks and Caicos Islands in January this year and moved to take up his new position in February.

As reported by the Cayman Compass, Barret compared his old posting in the TCI very unfavourably against his new location.

Cayman essentially has a well-trained, capable prison staff and a community that is ready and willing to help, Barrett said.

And former prisons director Neil Lavis did excellent work in setting up prison programmes and rehabilitative services.

“What we do have here is a real appetite among the community-based partners to come and be involved with us,” he said.

This is a key difference from the interim prisons director’s previous experience in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“The prison in the TCI is so impoverished environmentally to the people that are held there and the people who work there,” Barrett said. “The [Turks and Caicos] prison is in a real mess.”

The veteran prison officer, spent two years running the TCI prison before taking up his new post.

In another report out of Cayman – the Cayman 27 News – Barrett also stated: “Let’s be very blunt, the facilities built here are not fit for purpose.”

This statement was immediately followed by the good news: “The Cayman Islands government has been extremely acknowledging and accepting of that fact,” he said.

Last year, TCI Government announced that they had a number of plans to improve the local prison systems including increasing manpower and improving infrastructure.

In October, the local prison service welcomed 22 prison staff from the United Kingdom following their deployment to Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk.

The group had been assisting the prisons with their recovery efforts after the hurricanes, which caused severe damage to the facility.

At the time of the deployment of the new officers Barrett has said: “This is a significant investment in the prison by Her Majesty’s Government and one which is intended to deliver long term benefits to the delivery of our business.

“I am particularly pleased that our staff will be exposed to the skills of the UK prison officers.

“In real terms, this constitutes the best possible learning and development opportunity for our people.”

Efforts to reach the Ministry of Home Affairs for a report on any improvements planned for HMP, and a response to Barrett’s condemnation of the local penitentiary’s conditions were unsuccessful up to press time. (Delana Isles)

For more on this story go to: http://tcweeklynews.com/former-prison-boss-calls-hmp-a-real-mess-p8582-127.htm

IMAGE: Mises Institute