A former prisoner has called on Government to pay more than lip service to the rehabilitation of prisoners.

Clevelyn Simmons, who is one of the founders of the Wood Shop -- a religious-based programme aimed at helping prisoners enter back into the mainstream, told The Royal Gazette too many prisoners were being released without the skills to cope in the "real world''.

Many were also returning to prison, he added, because they depended on the security it provided.

Mr. Simmons was responding after Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess promised to review recommendations in the most recent Treatment of Offenders Board (TOOB) report.

The report, which was tabled in the House of Assembly recently, calls for the updating of laws and rules underwhich the TOOB carries out its work.

It also suggests the following: Linking parole and work release with attendance and completion of suitable courses in prison; Elevating inmates' self-image and self-worth by letting those competent in skills such as masonry, carpentry and plumbing to do such work in prison; Using drug-sniffing dogs in the prisons on a random basis; and Sentencing civil offenders (those who are incarcerated for non-payment of fines, bills and child support in particular) to community service, rather than prison.

Mr. Burgess said he intended to study the entire report during the summer.

Last night Mr. Burgess said that the Island would be looking at a scheme currently being run in Scotland to "break the cycle of crime and imprisonment.'' "This is the best opportunity to break the cycle of recidivism I have seen,'' said Mr. Burgess, who met at the weekend with Major General Glyn Gilbert, a Bermudian who helped with the modernisation of the Regiment and his colleague Andrew Whitehead, who runs the programme in Scotland.

"It is built around the proposition that it is possible to change the habits of criminals by developing in them an understanding of society's values, and by developing their sense of self worth and their life skills.'' According to Mr. Burgess, the programme achieves this by a "combination of team building and getting participants to accept responsibility for themselves in a number of projects and exercises.'' Included in the training are components which make participants "aware of the impact of their behaviour, their personal responsibilities, their options and the consequences in their decisions.'' Mr. Simmons said Government needed to provide programmes in prison which would prepare inmates to be self-sufficient upon their release.

"They are talking about total reform, but they are part of the problem,'' he said. "They've yet to come to grips with that.

"They take in the inmate and wash his clothes and pay his rent. Then when they come out, we find that we are babysitting individuals.

"We find that the typical inmate would rather return to jail, rather than paying their rent and taking on other responsibilities.

"I'm at the point where I'm tired. I really believe that inmates are not conditioned to do for themselves.'' Mr. Simmons recalled that he was the same way when he was released from prison.

"I lived in my mother's house,'' he said. "I was satisfied staying there. I felt safety under that net.

"But when I was pushed out, luckily the community embraced me and I had my brother Rick to pull me over the hump.

"But I never saw how dependent I was until I started taking care of others.

I'm babysitting or mansitting.'' Mr. Simmons stressed that Bermuda needs a rehabilitation programme which will address all of the inmate's needs.

"We need a programme that will develop the inmate overall, a programme to prepare them for the real world,'' he said. "If not all the money spent on incarcerating them will be a waste.'' Noting that the halfway house for prisoners "still has to materialise'', Mr.

Simmons said: "Until it's done, it (the lack of a halfway house) is part of the problem.''