Commissioner of prisons, John Prescod is no stranger to controversy and must now be experiencing deja vu.

Credited with slashing recidivism rates in Jamaica's prisons, Mr. Prescod also had to battle prison officer walkouts, riots and officer on inmate violence during his eight year tenure at the helm of Jamaica's prison system.

In 1997, prisoners rioted over his plan to offer condoms inside Jamaica's prisons to officers and inmates to fight AIDS. Sixteen homosexual inmates were killed and prison officers walked off the job and were replaced by soldiers.

And in June 2000, 300 inmates were allegedly beaten by Prison officers at St. Catherine's prison. It is understood that while some officers were transferred, none were disciplined.

Hundreds of prison officers walked off again in 2000 in protest Mr. Prescod's reappointment as head of Jamaica's Department of Corrections. The officers complained then that they were underpaid and that facilities were overcrowded and poorly staffed and that Mr. Prescod had not addressed the problems.

Mr. Prescod dismissed them but they were later awarded a total of 9.5 million Jamaican dollars in back pay.

He came to Bermuda last year replacing acting Commissioner Edwin Wilson after an exhaustive international search.

Labour Minister Terry Lister cited his philosophy and success at implementing a rehabilitation programme.

In one of his first interviews with the local media, Mr. Prescod said he was shocked that 40 percent of Bermuda's inmates were illiterate and a small group of young people were dropping out of school and going in and out of prison.

"I have the answers," he said then. "It's for us to get community awareness and the educational process going and allowing the educational and correctional services to work hand in hand to deal with this small problem."