Service is scathing in its assessment of management, staffing procedures and security operations.

The study, previously reported to have been prepared by the Management Services Board, was in fact written by Nepean, Ontario, based Process Reengineering & Environmental Consultants Inc. (PRET), Minister of Health and Social Services Harry Soares yesterday confirmed to The Royal Gazette .

Weighing in at 66 pages, the report, based on a two week fact-finding mission by the Canadian team, essentially poses the question: "What is the state of prisons?'' Its findings are a damning indictment of past and present management; among its conclusions the report found: The transition from the old correctional mode of Casemates Prison to the newer Wewstgate facility was poorly planned and executed. An opportunity to make great improvements has been lost and now-ingrained bad habits will make the essential turnaround difficult; The state of facilities and equipment, except at Westgate, is rather poor. The East End Prison Farm and Co-Ed facility are inadequately equipped, the facilities are in an unsatisfactory state of repair, and the condition of many inmate and staff furnishings is unacceptable. The staff don't have personal portable alarms, visibility is inadequate, surveillance equipment is non-existant, and even the radios don't work; Westgate also is inadequately equipped partly due to decisions to cut certain equipment capabilities during construction. For example, there is no internal video surveillance and the perimeter is not secure. Some of the equipment in place is undependable; Maximum security procedures are inadequate. There is no institutional Emergency Response Team or action plan. Staff are not trained to deal with potential contingencies such as hostage takings. The Police have no special relationship with the prisons so they are not prepared either; and The maximum security operation at Westgate is inadequate to accommodate "dangerous'' inmates. The control post is left open, inmates circulate in the hall surrounding the post, etc.

The report also criticised staff training, saying it was "infrequent. ..entirely inadequate and not job-focused''.

And top officers at the prison also came under fire.

"The issue of managing costs and especially cost-effectiveness is not ingrained in the Prison's culture, even among many senior personnel,'' the report said.

"...There are problems with the functioning and performance of the top management group of the Prisons Department.'' The issue of staffing, a bone of contention between Prison Officers and management, was also put under the spotlight. The PRET team found: "The present shift scheduling system is designed in part to accommodate the personal preferences of officers and may be inherently inefficient.'' A major part of the staffing problem, according to the PRET analysis, was staff entitlement to scheduled and unscheduled days off. The study concluded the pattern of unscheduled days-off turned staffing into a "roulette game,'' where a typical officer was "probably not available for work for 63.5 of the 261 paid days of the year''.

"That's about 25 percent of the time -- one day in four!'' the report concluded.

A copy of the report -- entitled a working paper on Staffing Issues to be Discussed With Prisons Department Staff -- was provided to The Royal Gazette by Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services Renee Webb after it was left by persons unknown at her office.

"I guess my initial reaction was this confirmed what I've been saying on the floor of the House since I took over as Shadow Minister,'' Ms Webb yesterday told The Royal Gazette .

"The report basically finds even though we have a $60 million state-of-the-art facility, Westgate is an abysmal failure because we still have an antiquated management system in place.

"We have management in place that doesn't have a clue how to run a modern facility. Look at the sick days allowed for officers; it's incredible,'' she said.

Mr. Soares told The Royal Gazette the report is "the real McCoy''.

"It really lays it on the line and tells it like it is, and this is a professional opinion and I say `thank you for your honesty'.

"I think the report is very clear, we have made a physical transition but we haven't made the programme transition; that's what it says so let's work with it,'' the Minister said.

But Mr. Soares, who took over the Prisons portfolio in September of 1995, refused to be pinned to a timetable for acting on the study. "These are very weighty recommendations and I can tell you this is my top priority. We are looking at every suggestion and the officers will have feedback.'' The Minister said he expected some of the problems to be acted on by the end of the summer.

He also defended the use of an outside consultant. "These guys have expertise in prison work and they have experience in Bermuda. It's not uncommon to use overseas experts.'' He could not say what the study cost.

Commissioner of Prisons Edward Dyer did not return repeated phone calls from The Royal Gazette yesterday.