Prisoners who are up for parole need only wait a few more weeks for their hearing, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Robert Horton said yesterday that the newly established parole board will start its work three months late because of a delay in training its members.

Parliament earlier this year passed the Parole Board Act, which mandated that starting October 1, 2001 the parole board would take over the function of hearing parole applications from the Treatment of Offenders Board.

But to date, an unspecified number of prisoners who should be up for parole are still incarcerated because the newly constituted board has not yet begun its official duties - prompting inquiries with the Department of Labour and Home Affairs by this newspaper.

"I think it is a legitimate concern," Mr. Horton said. "It was our expectation that everything would be in place for it to begin functioning by that date. That expectation was supported by the belief that training would have taken place."

Answers were slow in coming when The Royal Gazette began its inquiries over two weeks ago.

Premier Jennifer Smith last week said she was unaware there was a problem but suggested that the Public Safety department may have been able to make alternative arrangements to hear the cases.

"I am sure that the Ministry would have found some way in which to deal with those particular matters so the persons were not hampered by the fact that the board was or was not meeting," she said.

But as it turned out a legislative gap was created after October because of the unforeseen delay.

Having the Treatment of Offenders Board continue to deal with parole cases was suggested, said Mr. Horton.

"But it was recognised that it would have been outside the law."

Two members of the board, including its chairperson, were sent to Canada for training, Mr. Horton explained.

Over a period of approximately two weeks, "they were given extensive training in Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario - they saw parole boards in action."

The plan was for them to train the rest of the board. But, said Mr. Horton, "one of the delays was that materials ordered took a long time to get to Bermuda... and some members were travelling."

Training is now finally underway, and "we're hoping the parole board will be in action dealing with parole cases in January," he said.

"With hindsight, we would not have had the operative date on October 1 - because of the amount of preparation required."

When asked how many prison inmates were affected by the delay. Mr. Horton said :"I do not have before me the exact number of prisoners who are already qualified to have their cases heard by the parole board."

Former Treatment of Offenders board Chairman Neletha Butterfield, who resigned the position in September, said that on average two or three parole cases were heard by her board twice a month.

Mr. Horton said, when asked, that there had been no hue and cry from family members or lawyers representing inmates who might have been affected.

Criminal defence lawyer, Mark Pettingill, said he was not aware of the problem when contacted last night.

And he did not have a clue as to whether any of his clients may have spent the Christmas holidays in prison unnecessarily.

But Mr. Pettingill, also an Opposition Senator, took the opportunity to criticise the authorities anyway.

"That's appalling," he told The Royal Gazette.

"You have people who are eligible to be reviewed and to be released and they're still locked up.

"It's outrageous.

"Somebody has probably spent three months in prison when they could be out getting on with their recovery."