“To provide postsecondary education to prisoners is not advocating that we be ‘soft on crime’. It is simply the most effective and least expensive method of getting some control over crime and reducing the crippling tax burden that crime imposes on law-abiding citizens”— Christopher Zoukis

For December 2024, the retail sales volume in Bermuda decreased by 0.6 per cent. For 2024, leisure air visitors increased 15.2 per cent over the prior year. These figures were easily obtained from the Bermuda Government and Bermuda Tourism Authority via local media.

Statistics are important in government because they can help to identify the success or failure of public policy. They aren’t the only factor, but they should at least be a factor. They should also be used, if available, in the crafting of policy at the onset.

This data should be also made publicly available — especially when such information is in the public interest. This demonstrates good governance and is a sign of a government that values having an informed electorate.

Recidivism, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend”. This is usually measured in two or three-year intervals. The last time that Bermuda’s recidivism rate was publicly provided was on November 15, 2016 by, Jeff Baron, then the Minister of National Security, during a ministerial statement in the House of Assembly. In his statement, it was stated that Bermuda’s two-year recidivism rate was 10 per cent. That is a good number by any standard, and I would think that our present rate is somewhat similar.

The issue that we as a country have with measuring recidivism the way that we do is that it glosses over the real problem. For a country of our size, where most citizens are not able to emigrate — or opt not to — it would be better to look at recidivism over a person’s lifetime as opposed to small increments.

The reason that I suggest this is because too many within our prison system are not first-time offenders. And because their most recent offence occurred more than two years after their last release, they would not negatively contribute to the country’s recidivism rate. The point is not about the rate of recidivism; it’s about recidivism — period. How we calculate it doesn’t help us as a country to:

1, Understand the problem we face with repeated criminality

2, Analyse the effectiveness of our rehabilitative services — inside and outside of the prison system

The prevailing sentiment in Bermuda is that those who find themselves in our prison system are beyond help — that we are irredeemable. Criminality is viewed as a terminal condition; where the patient is simply sedated, so to speak, during their time of incarceration. After release, society often treats one with a criminal record like a leper.

Now don’t get me wrong: I do believe that there must be consequences for one’s actions. But does that mean that we marginalise formerly incarcerated persons to the point where criminality again becomes so attractive?

Or should we be battling against the condition of criminality with education, trade skills programmes, life-skills coaching, halfway houses and public works programmes for prisoners so that we can equip those leaving our prisons with more skills than when they entered?

For a country of our wealth, is it right that prisoners, without any place to live, are released without any housing assistance?

Yes, this may be a consequence of past criminality, but does it decrease or increase the probability that someone will reoffend?

Spending more money on society’s least desirable citizens is a tough ask, but not investing in those — predominantly Black males — who enter our prisons does not make for sound fiscal policy. The only people that benefit from repeated stints in prison are prison officers through salaries, overtime and job security. By persons continuing to come back to prison, the taxpayer continues to spend money that could go towards roads, schools, seniors facilities, etc. Additionally, our prison system is built on an outdated model that generates no revenue. Yet it has an abundance of cheap labour that could be used to offset the expenditure of the Department of Corrections — and perhaps other departments such as parks, and works and engineering.

Increasing the department’s budget for education and rehabilitation is an investment in our island’s success. Having more productive citizens leave our prisons should be the goal. Right now, it is a hope, with little planning and action to make it a reality. By meeting that goal, it would not only increase the tax base, but also reduce spending on social services. Additionally, those who have been incarcerated and rehabilitated provide invaluable benefits to our social fabric — especially against the backdrop of the gang violence that we are seeing.

Last year, the department was provided with a budget supplement of $400,000, which was earmarked for educational and rehabilitative services. A few months later, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Kim Wilkerson, toured the Westgate facility and was photographed in front of recently purchased kitchen equipment that a department press release stated was in support of culinary classes at the facility. There are no culinary classes being offered at Westgate, and they have not been since before the pandemic. But I suspect that after this letter, the education department will be canvassing the population to try to get classes started again.

The truth is that the kitchen at Westgate was — and still is — in a state of disrepair and that the equipment that was purchased was necessary in order to keep the facility running. If that kitchen was used to prepare food for any other persons, it would have long been condemned. The health department doesn’t even come to inspect the kitchen, as it would do any other food service operation. As far as I can tell, that $400,000 was a capital expenditure on kitchen equipment; not for educational and rehabilitative services as previously stated.

I apologise for digressing for a moment on this issue of the kitchen, but my fear is that:

• The minister was used for a photo-op and that she wasn’t — and isn’t being — provided with accurate information from the department’s administration

• The public are being fed inaccurate information about what is being done with inmates in support of their rehabilitation

The public ought to be provided with accurate information about the effectiveness of the rehabilitative services offered to inmates. They should be also informed about challenges facing prison staff by the increasing numbers of inmates with mental health conditions. Our prisons are not meant to deal with persons such as this from health, safety — staff and inmate — and rehabilitative perspectives. Our facilities don’t have the specialist staffing necessary to provide sufficient care for these individuals. The most common course of treatment for them is through medication during their period of incarceration. But they are at a higher risk of reoffending once they leave and are off their medication.

I believe that numbers can help to tell a story. And while the island’s real recidivism rate may point to some areas in need of improvement, I also think that it may show some successes. The rate of those who previously didn’t have their high school diploma or GED and obtained it during their period of incarceration should be published. If there were trade certificate programmes being offered, the completion rate could be also measured and published. Eventually, as programmes expand within the system, it would become common to see persons leave our corrections facilities with associate or bachelor’s degrees.

There must be a mindset shift within the Department of Corrections — and the public — so that true rehabilitation can take place within the prison system. And the use of measurable and transparent statistics would help to hold the department accountable to its mission to “empower inmates to be responsible and productive citizens”.

That is the goal.

• Behind The Walls is a resident of Westgate Correctional Facility