Neil Lavis, Cayman Islands new prison director, has been settling in to his new job at HMP Northward when he officially took up his new post on Monday June 24^th.

Lavis has a tough job ahead of him.

Lavis is a senior manager with over 30 years of experience in corrections.

His last job was Governor of HMP Swansea in the UK and comes with an excellent CV. In his three years at Swansea he:

improved the overall prison performance from borderline level 2 to a level 4 high performing establishment under the rating system used by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP),

improved performance in mandatory drug testing, sickness levels, time out of cell and purposeful activity as required by the HMIP,

lea and restructured the Senior Management Team during a period of economic and social instability,

maintained a safe, decent Prison and setting a strategy to improve resettlement provision and children and families pathways,

linked with outside agencies to provide “through the gate” provision for prisoners resettling in the local community,

and effectively dealt with performance and conduct issues including those of staff who held senior management positions.

Cayman’s prisons were the subject of a damning report conducted last year by the UK’s prison inspectorate, which condemned both the prisons itself and its management. It also was very critical of the situation regarding juvenile offenders.

Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of prisons said in his report about Cayman’s prisons:

“Any reader of this report should be troubled and concerned by what we found, particularly given that the prisons operated in the name of Her Majesty’s Prison Service. Whatever one’s view of the role of imprisonment in tackling crime and delinquency, most right-thinking people would expect prisons that operate in their name to hold prisoners safely and decently, and to ensure they leave as better people than when they came in. Northward and Fairbanks fall well short of this standard. The report’s findings confirm my view that all custodial facilities need to be subject to regular independent inspection to ensure even the most basic human rights standards are upheld and meaningful accountability maintained. The absence of such arrangements in the Cayman Islands was a significant factor in the very poor conditions we found in this one-off inspection. We have offered a number of recommendations that we believe will assist the Cayman authorities to create improvement and reduce the risk of such failings from reoccurring in future.”

See iNews Cayman story published Feb 5^th 2013 “Concerns and recommendations in latest Report on Inspection of HM Cayman Islands Prison Service” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/02/concerns-and-recommendations-in-latest-report-on-inspection-of-hm-cayman-islands-prison-service/

Lavis said he was well aware of the conditions at Northward before accepting the job.

With the budget restrictions Cayman is facing his job is made further difficult.