The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said yesterday that officers at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services who oversee mentally ill inmates will be receiving training on how to effectively manage them.

“Now we have to not only get them (mentally ill inmates) treatment, but the correctional officers who deal with them need training. The Correctional Service of Canada is coming down to give our officers some training and the American Correctional Association is also offering us assistance,” he said.

Mr Munroe explained that the mental strain of being admitted into prison can be challenging for inmates, even those who were not previously considered mentally ill.

“Considering that you have persons who are diagnosed mentally ill and then you also have persons through being in prison can put stress on you. And although you may not have been mentally ill before you were admitted, the fact that that added stress can lead to it. So, it is important to have the available competencies in there to address the needs of those persons.”

The management of inmates suffering from mental illnesses in prison has been criticised recently.

Kensey Cooper, a mentally ill inmate, died in hospital on October 25 two weeks after a prison fight.

Mr Cooper’s family called for justice and accused correctional officers of not paying attention to the inmates the night the attack occurred.

In a Facebook post, a relative of the deceased claimed prison officers were not properly monitoring inmates, alleging that Mr Cooper was beaten by two other inmates “for hours well into the night until he was unconscious.” The relative claimed Mr Cooper was not discovered until the next morning.

However, Mr Munroe noted the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDCS) is taking steps to address the needs of mentally ill inmates, adding that a psychiatrist and other mental professionals will be hired to work solely at BDCS to help them.

He continued: “Under the new mental health services Bill that we debated in Parliament, we’re going to have a mental health facility, which means we’re going to have professionals who could give the service and have that facility where they can be housed safely.”

For his part, acting Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare said yesterday, “We (correctional officers) pretty much need the same training as those officers who are over at Sandilands.”

Commissioner Cleare said correctional officers have to be able to detect signs in mentally ill inmates when something is wrong.

“This training is geared towards us reducing as much as possible of them harming themselves or other persons. You know, once they (correctional officers) are trained, they can pick up on these various signs.”

He said inmates who are mentally ill tend to be “strong” and “hyperactive”, adding that a specific kind of supervision is needed for them.

Although Commissioner Cleare did not give an official date on when the training for the officers will start, he said officials are sorting out the details.

When asked how many mentally ill inmates were currently in prison, he said there were 81 on record, but unofficially it could be more.

Currently Sandilands Rehabilitation staff go to the prison to treat inmates with mental illness.