Overcrowding in the Island's prison service has resulted in a man jailed for not paying his child support money being locked up next to convicted killers at the maximum security unit at Westgate Correctional Facility, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The man's mother said her son was shackled in handcuffs and wearing an orange prison uniform when she visited him on Wednesday.

She said she was shocked to discover that she had to speak to him through a glass partitioned cubicle.

The Pembroke woman, who asked not to be named, agreed her son should be jailed for 90 days for not paying child support for his daughter but claimed it was appalling that he was housed in the secure unit with hardened criminals. The woman told The Royal Gazette yesterday that her son was locked up next to Leroy Burgess, who was jailed in 1992 for the manslaughter of a German teacher at Dockyard, and one of the men awaiting trial for the murder of Jermaine Pitcher in Reid Street, Hamilton, in February.

She said: "He told me he was being treated like a criminal just like he murdered someone.

"If he is not paying his money he should be locked up, but it is not right putting him there.

"He's got a murderer on one side and someone charged with murder on the other and he doesn't like it. He hears them talking about the things they did, what they should have done, and what they are going to do when they get out.

"He doesn't want to hear it and he's read two and a half books since he was locked up on Friday just to keep his mind straight.

"If he was a criminal I could understand it, but I don't think he should be there.'' The overcrowding problem has been caused in part by Magistrate Carlisle Greaves' decision to jail fathers who fail to pay child support for their children.

Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Paula Cox confirmed last night that the man was being held in the maximum security unit and was forced to wear a prison uniform and handcuffs during visiting hours.

But she said he would be transferred today to the Prison Farm to serve the remainder of his 90-day sentence.

Ms Cox had no information last night on whether any other men jailed for non-payment of child support had been locked up in the maximum security unit.

She said: "It is not ideal and I can empathise with his mother and we are trying to move as many (civil) people out as quickly as possible (to the Prison Farm).

Overcrowding "It was a space issue and the man involved goes to the Prison Farm tomorrow.

They do generally go to Westgate first. In terms of how quickly they are moved out, that depends on space.

"There is going to be a short-term pain, but the best thing to do is to meet your obligations.

"You can't always throw up your hands and play the pained victim. If people can't pay it all off, the magistrates are looking to see if the fathers are at least making a genuine attempt to deal with the issues.'' Ms Cox said she hoped the problem of locating non-payers within the prison system could be better dealt with through managing the amount of spaces within the system. But she emphasised Government's commitment to the alternatives to incarceration scheme and ruled out building new prisons to deal with the overcrowding problems.

Shadow Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said: "It is not acceptable. Hardened criminals and people in for relatively minor offences should be separated.'' He added: "The whole child support system needs to be looked at because by sending people to prison you are not allowing them the opportunity to earn money to pay.''