New Acting Prison Commissioner Hubert Dean has urged a back-to-basics approach after hitting out at sloppy performance levels.

And he has pledged to work with staff rather than against them to raise standards and morale in a demoralised corrections system.

Mr. Dean replaces John Prescod, who was axed after clashing with staff and failing to implement agreed reforms.

Yesterday, Mr. Dean said he was confident the system could be improved and he could fulfil his brief of handing over the top post to another Bermudian successor.

"I like a challenge and this truly will be challenge," he said. "The biggest challenge will be sorting out some of the personnel issues that have occurred.

"(I'd like) just to get back to some sort of level of professionalism and restore the integrity this department once had.

"I think a lot of the professionalism has diminished (and) the level of performance."

Pressed for details, he stressed he had only been in the job for three days.

"But, based on the meetings I have had and some of things I have observed in this short period, I have determined we have kind of forgotten the basic requirements of the job," Mr. Dean said.

"We are not doing the basics, such as the way we conduct ourselves in the public, the way we control inmates, the various day-to-day operations of the facility. Standards need to improve.

"I can't put my finger on one example but there is a general reduction in the level of performance. It may be as a result of the low morale that's been prevalent here for some time.

"Staff in the corrections department need to know they are appreciated. They need to know their work is important. They need to take pride in their work.

"We have already had discussions about training and development - training so we can get the basics. I think they have been ignored or forgotten or just lost in all this confusion."

He said the Prison Officers Association had pledged its support which he was grateful for, particularly as the union had been at loggerheads with his predecessor.

"I have had a rather warm reception," Mr. Dean said.

He said he had been respected during his career and people had acknowledged his reputation when he returned.

"Of course, like in any marriage, there's always a honeymoon," he added. "Right now I am in the honeymoon."

He said work had started on a policy manual so officers would know what their responsibilities were.

Mr. Dean said he was confident the service had people capable of taking over the reins from him but it could be two years before they were ready.

However, he stressed he did not want the job permanently and was keen to let his successors get on with it.

"I was thoroughly enjoying my retirement," said Mr. Dean who is an assistant pastor at Rehoboth Church in Khyber Pass, Warwick where his wife of 34 years, Deborah, is a minister.

The 56-year-old father of two has fond memories of his 28-year career in the prison service.

"I joined in 1974 because I wanted to make a difference in people's lives," he said. "People less fortunate than myself.

"My entire career was trying to see what we can do to improve the quality of life of some of the people I saw consistently returning to prison. I still feel that way."

He is a firm believer in Government's Alternatives to Incarceration scheme which gives breaks on sentencing to people making an honest attempt to get off drugs.

However, the prisons are more crammed than ever.

Westgate has 220 inmates - 12 more than the maximum capacity while there are 380 people in the system - up by 50 from last year.

"I was active in ATI before my retirement. I bought into it," Mr. Dean said.

"I hoped all the other agencies would buy into it, but I have not explored why we are where we are. I though ATI would ease the prison population if all the agencies worked together."

He has been in contact with the Commonwealth's prisons advisor Chris Gibbard for tips on training and he intends to revive links with England's prison training academy in Wakefield.

"I am a firm believer that was the only method that worked for us," he said. "We started to move away from that and went to Canada and the US to some extent.

"But the British system was the most effective one, we need to go back to that.

"I have been to Wakefield and former Commissioners Dyer and Pringle went. We should continue with that."