The Prisons Headquarters in Pembroke will relocate to Dockyard, near a planned halfway house for inmates.

Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess disclosed this to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

And while details about the move had not yet been worked out, Mr. Burgess said the move made sense since the headquarters will be close to the prison and the halfway house.

"This make sense since they will want to monitor the prisoners progress,'' he added.

Design work on the halfway house was underway and demolition of old buildings where it is to be located was expected to begin by the end of summer.

"The Department of Public Works and the prisons have met. They are presently coming up with a design for the facility,'' Mr. Burgess said.

"This will be a very comprehensive design.'' The halfway house -- to be set up at Clarence Terrace near Westgate Correctional Facility -- was to have opened at the end of July, 1997.

The concept was recommended in UK Judge Stephen Tumim's report on Bermuda's criminal justice system in the early 1990s.

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

Under the scheme inmates who enter the halfway house -- which is expected to prepare them for re-entry into mainstream society -- were to be allowed to find employment and resume daily responsibilities three to four months prior to their release. 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.

But last August 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 the last financial year.

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.

He added that the Works and Engineering Ministry -- which will be responsible for carrying out work on the facility -- was "stretched to the limit'' preparing schools for September, last year.

Even if Works and Engineering was able to complete the work, he said, the resources required for running the halfway house -- which is expected to be some $400,000 a year -- were not included in last year's budget.