The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said Cabinet has approved the construction of a new virtual court at the Department of Correctional Services.

He said there will be 20 virtual courts and two physical courts with accompanying cells for prisoners to be “secure and also separated”.

However, wider plans for an expanded prison, crucial to accreditation hopes, have not been approved.

Mr Munroe said he would take a revised position on the expansion plans to Cabinet within four to six weeks.

Newly confirmed Corrections Commissioner Doan Cleare officially urged the government to“speedup the process” of building expanded prison facilities.

“We know that the government resources are limited,” he said during his installation ceremony yesterday. “We know that the Defence Force is begging for more boats, the police more cars and more guns, immigration more buses.”

“It’s a big effort between whether we should build a prison first or a hospital.”

“If we don’t build a facility and do it quickly, the hospital wouldn’t be able to handle the amount of murders and the amount of panic that will come their way, because why? Because we cannot correct the per- sons properly in our current state.”

Commissioner Cleare said the prime minister assured him that once plans for a new hospital are announced, officials can “put shovels in the ground” for the new prison.

The cost of building the new prison facility has fluctuated multiple times. In May 2023, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe revealed that the construction plans moved from a $40m high-medium security facility to a $90m “correctional institution, administrative, housing, and medical facility”.

In September 2023, Prison Commissioner Doan Cleare revealed the cost of expanding the prison was cut by 40 per cent after the Ministry of Finance asked officials to revise their plans.

Last October, Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said construction of new prison facilities might happen through “step- by-step improvements” to avoid a large initial investment.