turn prisoners into productive citizens, Prison Commissioner Mr. Edward Dyer stressed this week.

Mr. Dyer, who resumed his post on July 1 after a four-year absence, said he was "embarrassed'' by the recidivism rate which he estimated to be between 60 to 70 percent. And he said he was "very upset'' with the fact that the Island had the highest number of people in prison in the western hemisphere.

But he said as a new prison was being built and the criminal justice system reviewed, Bermuda had the opportunity to change this.

Speaking to Hamilton Lions, Mr. Dyer said the change process could start by questioning why prisons existed and whether they really performed the functions which "enable a prisoner to come out as a person who is more useful and could survive as a contributing member of the community''.

"I believe that just the creation of a new prison is not going to cause that to happen,'' he said. "We can transfer everything, everybody into the new facility and effectively that will only achieve better accommodation and nothing that will amount to, what I believe is the primary mission of the Prison Department -- to correct behaviour and to cause those persons who come through our doors to go out to be more productive citizens.'' Mr. Dyer, who admitted that one of the reasons he returned to the service was because of negative public opinion about the prison, said the prison's present objective suggested Bermuda was oriented to custody law.

"I believe we unnecessarily lock up persons for reasons where perhaps alternatives would be more appropriate,'' he said. "The custody law really says lock up and hopefully something will change and we already have proof that it doesn't change. So we're looking at something that will perhaps address what a prison should be.'' Mr. Dyer said while the review was not complete, the Prison Department could start by including in its name something to reflect that it is there to change people's behaviour.

And he said the department's mission statement could include: the belief that those in custody have potential to change, with programmes geared toward this objective; the belief that staff have the potential to bring about changes; the belief that the Prison Department should operate as a cost-efficient department; and the belief that the recidivism rate can be reduced.

"I think we have the chance to bare our chest for the first time,'' Mr. Dyer said. "Telling the public what we plan to do, how we propose to do it and what we expect by way of results, can help so they can judge us and we can measure our success.'' With the new prison expected to be completed next September and prisoners expected to move in two months later, Mr. Dyer said the prison was looking at serious staff-training programmes.

Concerning prison security, he conceded that: "We haven't really fulfilled that role to the degree that I think everybody is satisfied with it and to the degree that the accountability of prisons should have as far as the general public is concerned''.

But he said the community also had a responsibility to accept former prisoners back into the mainstream.

"Prisons may be able to do the very best while they are preparing persons to go back into the community, but unless we prepare the community to receive these persons when they come back we really aren't setting up any thing which causes the person to exceed in whatever strength they may have developed for a new approach to life.''