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Bahamas: Her Majesty’s Prison Recidivism Rate Declines
Related to country: Bahamas

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Prison Recidivism Drops:
By Juan McCartney -
Nassau, Bahamas:



The rate of recidivism has dropped, according to a statistical report on Her Majesty’s Prison, which Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest tabled in the House of Assembly Wednesday night.

The report showed that the rate of recidivism declined from 32 percent in 2006 to 22.7 percent in 2007.

The recidivism rate is calculated based on persons returning to prison who had served a previous sentence.

"We do not want our young people who have been released from prison to go back again," Minister Turnquest said.

He was contributing to a debate on crime, which arose after the Opposition moved for the appointment of a select committee on crime.

The minister said the prison is now offering basic academic and skills training to inmates so that they have an advantage when reintegrating into society after they are released from prison.

Of the young men in prison, Minister Turnquest said, "our prison system will do its part in seeking to rehabilitate them, but some notwithstanding will lead a wasted and unfulfilled life."

The report showed that as of Wednesday, the prison population was 1,351. Of that number, 684 people are serving sentences, while 667 people are on remand.

The report showed that the average daily prison population dropped nine percent last year from 1,486 in 2006 to 1,353 in 2007.

In 2007, overall prison admissions also dropped from 2,593 to 2,556, according to the report.

Of the 2,556 people admitted to the prison in 2007, 815 of them were serving sentences, and 1,741 of them were on remand.

The report showed that 2,330 of the 2,556 people admitted in 2007 were male and 189 were female. The numbers in the report showed a disparity of 37 people whose gender was not classified.

The report also showed that 2,303 of the people admitted to the prison in 2007 were Bahamian citizens and 217 were not.

The report didn’t break down the particular nationalities of the other 217 people, and once again there was a disparity of 37 non-classified people in respect to the total number of people reportedly admitted.

During the parliamentary debate, Minister Turnquest said illegal guns, drugs, migrant smuggling and a total disregard for human life by an inordinate number of young men in the country are the main factors contributing to the rising rate of crime, and in particular murder.

A record 79 murders were committed in 2007. So far for 2008, 11 murders have been committed, a fact that Minister Turnquest said has not escaped the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

"It is predominantly our young men who are committing murder in the very prime of their lives. In that moment their future is taken out of their hands and the course of their lives is changed forever," he said.

"Moreover, they would have inflicted untold pain on the families of their victims and inflicted pain and embarrassment on their own families, their communities and themselves."

Minister Turnquest said of the young men committing crimes that, "there is a growing group of callous and uncaring miscreants who have no respect for the sanctity of human life, no respect for the laws of our country and no respect for those that are mandated to enforce those laws."

15 February 2008

February 15, 2008 | 5:19 PM Comments  0 comments

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