Transitional Living Centre’s US vendor’s contract will not be renewed

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Bermudian staff and Government negotiating redundancy packages

By Ceola Wilson

The US vendor hired to run the Transitional Living Centre at Westgate Correctional Facility has been told their three-year Government contract will not be renewed.

And negotiations for redundancy packages for eight Bermudian employees are reported to be at a “very sensitive stage” with the final outcome still pending.

When contacted by The Royal Gazette, a spokesman for the Bermuda Public Services Union confirmed “talks for redundancy packages started after notification last month”.

He would not comment further because the negotiations are “still ongoing”.

The halfway house for prison inmates is headed up by Sharon Swan. Other staff members include Bermuda’s internationally acclaimed footballer Clyde Best.

TLC was started just over a decade ago and is run by Liberty Behavioural Health Corporation, a private company based in Philadelphia.

Last March in an address to members of the Hamilton Rotary Club Ms Swan noted: “Those who take part in the full treatment and in work release have a higher chance of successful re-entry than those receiving no treatment.

At that time she said, the general consensus was that “treatment works”. “The offenders who complete the full course of treatment at TLC, typically nine months, seem to do the best, and those who are on parole,” she said.

The TLC programme offers drug and alcohol counselling, anger management counselling, life skills training and job placement for inmates approaching release from prison.

TLC was the first programme in Government’s Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) initiative in 2001, to help offenders make a successful transition from prison back to community life.

The scheme is a partnership between the Department of Corrections and Liberty Behavioral Health Corporation to provide a supportive residential environment and stable employment.

Efforts to secure an official comment from Government were unsuccessful by press time.

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