By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage hopes the government can produce draft legislation before the end of the year that would ultimately make hundreds of incarcerated people eligible for parole.

The government hopes a $20m loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will put the programme into motion, with Dr Nottage formerly opening a round table discussion on a parole system during an event at the Hilton Hotel yesterday.

A parole system, he said, is the next logical step for a government committed to transforming the prison system from one centred on punitive punishment to one focused on rehabilitation.

Dr Nottage said he almost cried when he first visited the prison as national security minister and saw so many young men cramped together in a single cell.

In seeking to transform the system, he said tensions exist when advocating for a less punitive model in a country where the attitude of many is “to lock (them) up and throw away the key”.

“You know (that) doesn’t work,” he said. “These modifications are by no means a simple task and are a work in progress, as they require a paradigm shift in the way functions are carried out and can be an educational and sensitisation process to bring understanding and awareness to the new way of doing things at every level of the Department of Correctional (Services) and extending to the general public.”

Dr Nottage also defended the government’s decision to borrow money for the programme, suggesting that Bahamians often grumble when administrations attempt to institute reforms.

He told reporters that a parole system will require an increase in human resources.

“What we are doing these two days is really beginning the process of investigating what is necessary to have an efficient system in terms of manpower, in terms of training and access to skills training,” he said. “There will be an increase in manpower in order for the parole system to be successfully implemented but we will all benefit financially by having a reduction in the number of people in our prisons. There will be a shift in how the funds will be spent. We have a six-month period of discussion and explaining. I’m hoping that before the end of the year a draft bill could be taken to allow for it.”

Dr Nottage noted that 1,575 people are currently incarcerated. Of that number, 1,024 of them are young men between the ages of 15 and 35, and 35 women of the same age range are there as well.

“Many of these individuals are locked away for crimes associated with drug use and firearm possession,” he said. “Guns, drugs and gangs are the triad in our country today. The current rate of crime suggests that a sizeable number of our young men will spend many of their most youthful and productive years locked away from society. Upon their eventual return to their communities, many of them will be rendered dysfunctional or unemployable, with others impacting the recidivism rate.”