Commissioner of Corrections Edward Lamb has hailed 2015 as a year of standout progress for the prison service, but insists more is to follow in the coming year.

Acknowledging that resources remain the biggest challenge in corrections, Colonel Lamb says further successful rehabilitation programmes will continue to drive down the Island’s prison population.

He told The Royal Gazette that the America’s Cup could offer more community-outreach opportunities for inmates to complement the increasing work prisoners already do for government agencies, charities and residential care homes.

But Colonel Lamb said that fixing the issues surrounding the repatriation of prisoners after they had served their sentence remained on the agenda for this year.

“A challenge that we will have to wrestle with in 2016 is repatriation,” he added. “Some inmates who are not permitted to travel through foreign borders cannot get home.

“We have a small number of inmates who are clear for release but cannot be repatriated because they cannot fly through the UK, the US, or Canada.

“It is a diplomatic issue that we hope can be dealt with in the coming year. We are striving to resolve it and it will require discussions with various overseas governments.

“Repatriation does occur from time to time with Bermudians coming home. Right now we are in the middle of one conversation to repatriate an inmate serving time in Bermuda so that he can finish his sentence in his home country.

“There are also one or two Bermudians looking to be repatriated at present.”

Last year saw the launch of the drywalling programme within Westgate to provide inmates with skills to gain employment upon their release.

Meanwhile, the pioneering restorative justice programme that has inmates paired with victims to fully understand the effects of their actions was also rolled out for the first time on the Island.

Colonel Lamb said: “We will be running the drywalling programme again this year and we are using the drywalling class on a project that is tied to the America’s Cup.

“There is another potential project on the horizon involving the America’s Cup which has recently come to the fore. I am hopeful this comes to fruition as there are many entities that will benefit.”

He added: “2015 was a fantastic year for corrections. Recidivism rates continue to be low and the number of inmates is also low. We still have our challenges with contraband but assault figures within the prison are also very low and these are measurable things that show success.

“This has all been done with a hiring freeze and budget constraints and is a testament to the dedication and commitment of my staff.

“Looking ahead a lot will depend on our budget allowance and that may have an impact on the extent we can do escorted community service. If we don’t have enough staff we have to adjust. That is our biggest challenge: resources.”