A long-awaited centre for weaning offenders back into society will not open this year as planned.

Despite a Government announcement two months ago that a halfway house for offenders, including prisoners, was to open in Dockyard at the end of last month, The Royal Gazette has learned that the project may not come on line until Spring, 1998.

The halfway house -- to be set up at Clarence Terrace near Westgate Correctional Facility -- was expected to prepare inmates for re-entry into mainstream society.

It was to allow them, three to four months prior to being released, to find employment and resume daily responsibilities. But they would have to return to the facility at night and weekends.

The facility was also expected to house others who run afoul of the law, but did not receive custodial sentences.

Government accepted the concept of a halfway house when it took on board Judge Stephen Tumim's report on Bermuda's criminal justice system in the early 1990s.

In July, 1994, a comprehensive paper on the scheme was completed and presented to the then Health and Social Services Minister Quinton Edness.

And current Minister Clarence Terceira in May called the project an "exciting venture'' aimed at slashing the number of repeat offenders.

"...We now plan to open at the end of July,'' Dr. Terceira said at that time.

But when contacted recently about the project, Health and Social Services Permanent Secretary Donald Scott told The Royal Gazette the project was moving along "quite slowly'' and not expected to begin until the next financial year.

Mr. Scott explained that the halfway house "was not a priority'' at the beginning of this financial year, which started on April 1.

The $450,000 allocated in the Budget for renovations to Clarence Terrace were taken from another area in the Social Services Ministry's budget, he said.

"The decision was taken midstream, almost at the point of the Budget numbers being finalised, to make some money available for this,'' Mr. Scott added.

He also said the Works and Engineering Ministry -- which will be responsible for carrying out the renovations on the halfway house -- was "stretched to the limit''.

"Right now their full focus and attention is directed at making sure that the schools are ready for September,'' Mr. Scott said. But even if Works and Engineering was able to complete the work, the resources required for running the facility -- which is expected to cost $400,000 a year -- were not included in the budget.

Mr. Scott said: "The Commissioner of Prisons and I have been going over this to see how the time lines have been changed and when we can be definitive about a start-up date.

"It's reasonably certain that physically the building may not be ready by the end of the summer. And even if it was, still more will need to be done in order to get the programme operational, including making sure that staff were trained, in place and ready to go.''