The kitchen at Westgate Correctional Facility was closed late on Friday due to a collapsed ceiling caused by a ruptured water pipe.

The Department of Works and Engineering was immediately notified of the damage and repaired the leak.

Until the use of Westgate’s kitchen can resume, meals are being prepared at the Co-Ed/Farm Facility and the Royal Bermuda Regiment has offered its kitchen facilities for meal preparation.

The Department of Corrections is working closely with Works and Engineering to have the repairs completed as soon as possible. A damage assessment will take place in the next few days and then there will be a realistic timeline for restoring the kitchen to normal operational levels.

The Department of Corrections said officer and inmate safety was of paramount importance and that its maintenance plan continued to be executed systematically and that significant progress had been made on other repairs and improvements.