The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

Ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DOAN Cleare, the acting commissioner of corrections, admitted yesterday that the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services failed an accreditation inspection earlier this year, saying officials knew the prison would “fail miserably”.

He said the most significant remaining problem is the inadequate toilet system, noting the prison's slopping practices, a defining characteristic of the institution in Bahamian culture, must be eradicated to be accredited.

He said it would cost about $1.8m to end slopping in the facility, which will involve uprooting floors and cutting walls.

The prison's conditions are notoriously poor, but Mr Cleare said this is the first time the prison is seeking accreditation from the American Correctional Association (ACA), which he described as the standard in accreditation processes.

Prison officials are preparing for the next inspection, which the ACA will again conduct in a few months.

“We knew –– myself knew, the minister knew, the government knew –– that the initial inspection, the prison will fail miserably,” Mr Cleare told The Tribune yesterday. “So all we were looking for them to tell us what we need to do to pass inspection and they have given us a comprehensive report. We are now going through the report and implementing what was requested of us.”

Mr Cleare said the national security minister must decide whether to release the report to the public.

He said the ACA noted “lots of concerns” over the prison. The ACA indicated, 'you must have proper procedures in place' to have a correctional facility, he said.

“You must have a dining hall in place,” he added. “You must have proper medical facilities in place. You must have trained professional staff and corrections in place. You must have the proper equipment listing in place. You must have proper CCTV in place.”

“They said that we must have psychiatry, psychologists, and nutritionists. All of those things were put in place, you know, based on the report.”

During a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Mr Cleare said officials are working in phases to achieve accreditation goals because it is an expensive exercise.

“So for example,” he said, “we just opened up a new juvenile facility –– they said that can be accredited. The female correctional facility we have to do some minor work to it and they said that can be accredited.

“We know maximum security prison cannot be accredited, so our challenge is the remand centre. We have just remodelled the entire top floor –– almost $300,000. We are approaching the bottom floor.”

Asked if he is optimistic about passing the next inspection, Mr Cleare said: “Again, if we don’t solve the toilets, we will still fail the inspection. We can’t be 80 per cent complete with the necessary improvements if we don’t solve the toilets. To me, the toilet is a major issue because we are trying to end slopping.”