NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said yesterday that the government will seek to address quarantine concerns for inmates at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BDOCS).
Munroe, who spoke to reporters outside Cabinet, said he discovered that under the previous prison commissioner, four inmates were being housed in a quarantine cell that was only six by nine feet.
He pledged that the Davis administration will move to turn BDOCS into a more rehabilitative facility.
“Having four grown men in a cell that is six feet by nine feet, we have to do something about addressing that circumstance,” he said.
There have been precautionary measures in place at the facility to protect against the spread of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, including the suspension of all services and activities such as visitations, commissary, property collection, church services and more.
During his contribution to debate in Parliament on Monday, the minister pledged to, as outlined in the Speech from the Throne, transform BDOCS to facilitate reform of inmates before they eventually reintegrate into society.
He suggested that while the facility is designed to remove the right to freedom, it is not intended to remove all human rights.
Under the former administration, the department saw initiatives introduced and expanded such as the early release program, an inmate management system with the Citizens Security and Justice Program and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute’s (BTVI) skills program.
Former BDOCS Commissioner Charles Murphy has been placed on administrative leave, pending “a full investigation into several issues”, including the prison management related to a Supreme Court order and the release of an inmate, among other things.
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