A serious assault on a prison officer by two high-risk inmates at Westgate Correctional Facility on Sunday afternoon was bound to happen owing to government cost cutting, it has been claimed.

Timothy Seon, the chairman of the Prison Officers Association, was speaking to The Royal Gazette after a male officer was attacked by two men facing murder charges, as reported on TNN earlier this week.

Mr Seon said the officer in question had to be treated in hospital after sustaining severe injuries.

He said that while the officer is understood to have violated policy by allowing both of the men out of their cells at the same time, compliance with procedure was hindered by ongoing systemic challenges — including a lack of staff and shortcuts in training.

An investigation has been launched into the incident. A government spokesman confirmed a police investigation into the matter, while Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General, outlined a wider review of issues within the department.

Mr Seon said: “There are a lot of mitigating factors that created the perfect storm for this incident to happen on Sunday.

“The regime still has to run — but because we are so short staffed, oftentimes the officers work outside of the policy to make it work.”

The Gazette interviewed Mr Seon in December 2024 over lingering issues within the Department of Corrections.

At that time, staff levels were said to be 100 prison officers short. There were roughly 145, while its staffing schedule calls for 244.

The department has since been moved under the remit of Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

Mr Seon said the officer who got set upon was “young in his service”, with about two years experience and that his training had been “expedited”.

“Because we are so short staffed, they are trying to get warm bodies on the ground quickly and I would argue that it is a mitigating factor.

“When you have a young officer in an environment where you don’t have the manpower to fulfil the regime, people will take shortcuts. Everything still has to happen.

“It was unfortunate that it happened, but this is all coming from the Public Bodies Reform Act [2014] — the cutbacks caused us to have to work outside of policy and they might also violate collective bargaining agreements. I have been making public announcements about this for seven years.

“This practice has been commonplace within the department for ten years. We are 100 officers short but are expected to meet our requirements. It creates a lot of dysfunction; we are carrying the load of two or three officers. How can you be effective?”

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Michael Dunkley, the former premier, tabled the Public Bodies Reform Bill “for information purpose only” in the House of Assembly.

The Bermuda Public Services Union at the time implored all public officers to consider the draft Bill, saying it had grave concerns.

The Bill aimed to create government cost cutting, reduce public debt and modernise services by streamlining and merging bodies, privatising functions and selling assets, following recommendations from the Sage Commission.

However, Mr Seon said it has resulted in a strained workforce.

“There is a satellite human resources person who has never worked in a disciplined service and who also has other departments under their remit, as roles were merged. They are not at fault for how long it takes to hire people.

“We are also facing issues in terms of classes for inmates such as court order classes — if they are in for violence, they should have violence reduction classes, for example.

“I feel while these changes and amendments have been put in place, little has been considered in regards to how it affects the people on the front line.”

Mr Seon said prison officers were not only suffering physically but enduring significant mental strain.

He added: “More officers will definitely be a help, but for whatever reason, we are not getting the numbers we need.

“We have looked outside of the jurisdiction seeking to hire officers.”

Mr Seon said disciplinary action against inmates was due for assessment.

“The most the inmate will often get is losing TV privileges for three months, visitor and phone privileges, canteen privileges … it’s not much of a deterrent.

“It has gotten to the point where, because of the low morale, officers no longer have the confidence in the department. They take the assault complaints outside of the department.”

The Ministry of National Security, which previously oversaw the department, had its budget increased by $10.9 million to $126.9 million this year.

David Burt said in May that the budget would allow the department to make “long overdue” repairs at Westgate and increase staffing.

“The Department of Corrections will recruit new corrections officers to restore operational capacity and meet security standards,” the Premier said on that occasion.

However, the Government’s Budget cut the Department’s budget for 2025 to 2026 by four per cent or $1.01 million to $24.7 million.

The Budget also projected that total staffing would fall from 233 to 224, with a salary reduction of $1.46 million to $18.2 million projected.