The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE annual cost per inmate at the Bahamas Department of Corrections in 2021 was $17,369.60, according to a 2021 report tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday.

The cost of food per inmate was $1,230.71.

Thirty-three inmates were serving life sentences, and there were 31 juveniles at the facility. The number of admissions was 1912, 723 of whom were sentenced inmates, with the rest on remand. The staff complement included 558 men and 183 women.

The report’s release comes as the institution chases accreditation from the American Correctional Association. Prison officials are awaiting Cabinet approval to expand the facility.

In June, acting Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare admitted the prison failed an accreditation inspection earlier this year, saying officials knew it would “fail miserably”.

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

He said it would cost about $1.8m to end slopping, a process that would require uprooting floors and cutting walls.