Prisons Commissioner Edward Lamb told yesterday how a notorious "thug" collapsed in tears after arriving at Westgate and being told he was a "beautiful and decent young man".

Lt Col Lamb, giving evidence to a joint parliamentary select committee on violent crime and gun violence, told MPs he often heard prisoners complaining: "I don't feel loved" and believed that was the root cause of the current rise in gang activity.

"That might sound very simplistic but if you talk to any of these young men as you walk up and down the highways and byways, beneath that shield is a young man crying out for love and acceptance and guidance," he said.

The Commissioner said Bermudians — especially young black males — had not been taught identity and citizens had "neglected to love one another".

Stressing the importance of national pride, he explained that throughout his presentation he would refer to boys as "byes" — since that was the local vernacular and was not meant disrespectfully.

Lt Col Lamb, who said he only touched prisoners to hug them or shake their hands, described one incident at Westgate when an inmate arrived who had been labelled a thug.

"I reached out and shook his hand and asked how he was doing. He said he wasn't feeling well. I looked that bye in his eye and I said: 'You probably have never heard a man tell you this but you are a beautiful and decent young man'. He collapsed and cried."

Later, he was asked to respond to community concerns that Westgate was a soft option.

"This community doesn't know what it wants," replied Lt Col Lamb. "It wants us to punish everybody else's bye. They want me and my officers to do to a 21-year-old bye what they should have been doing when he was 21 months old.

"Being in jail is the punishment. I have been to many jails in Canada and in England. Our systems and our regimes are just as robust as they are elsewhere."

He told the committee Westgate had a slew of educational programmes for prisoners and that the Island's recidivism rate was "lower than most North American jurisdictions" at about 50 percent.

But he admitted: "There is room for improvement." The Commissioner said one problem was that the Department of Corrections would get a prisoner off drugs, only for him to return to his old ways once released from custody. "This is not a prison problem, this is a Bermuda problem," he said.

Lt Col Lamb said many young men had "literally raised themselves" and been starved of attention. He said such individuals — both in and out of jail — were crying out for direction.

Describing society as a village, he said the "adults in the village" should hang their heads in shame for allowing the Country to lose its sense of decency.

Referring to gun-wielding gang members, he added: "We have the temerity to put labels on these little byes... when we failed them. It is incumbent upon us as a Country to realise that we are now reaping what we have sown for decades.

"Despite the barbaric things they have done, they are our sons, grandsons, nephews, godsons and they are our problem and we all have to accept responsibility for fixing the problem."

He said labelling the young men as rejects and sending them to Westgate was not a long-term solution since "one day they are coming back to us".

"These young men are crying out. They have broken spirits and guess who broke them? Us."