house for prisoners has been shot down, it has emerged.

But plans for a halfway house are still on the burner although a number of decisions have to be made by the three Ministries involved in the project.

Under the former United Bermuda Party Government, Clarence Terrace in Dockyard was named as the site for the long-awaited halfway house and demolition work started at the site soon after the PLP came to power.

However, a listing of buildings of architectural and historic interest, which was prepared from the Environment Ministry, named Clarence Terrace as one such building.

"Demolition was therefore stopped and that site has been ruled out for use as a halfway house,'' a Government spokesperson said.

The three Government Ministries involved in the project -- which barely developed under the auspices of the former Government -- are Works and Engineering; Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety; and Health and Social Services.

Plans to develop a halfway house continue and Public Safety Minister Paula Cox said her department had met with the Social Services Ministry and together they had looked at a number of potential sites for the facility.

Discussions with experts in the field of setting up similar programmes had also been held, Ms Cox added. And while nothing definitive was in place, the list of sites had been narrowed down and progress was being made.

The idea of a halfway house to help soon-to-be-released inmates to cope in mainstream society was first announced prior to the 1993 General Election which the UBP narrowly won.

Some $450,000 was earmarked in the Budget in 1997 for the project, but it did not get off the ground.