By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said he has told law-enforcement agencies he wants inmate transports kept out of rush-hour traffic where possible, but also pushed back against claims that prison buses disregard road rules.

He was responding to criticism that followed a police-involved traffic collision on East Bay Street on Tuesday afternoon involving a prison escort bus, an incident that sent two police officers and a 21-year-old civilian to the hospital and triggered renewed scrutiny on social media.

Police said the collision occurred shortly before 5.30pm on December 16 as an escort bus transporting inmates eastbound to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services collided with a red Honda Fit travelling north on Church Street. Both vehicles were damaged, and the driver of the Honda Fit and two officers were taken to the hospital. The officers were later treated and discharged, while no update on the civilian’s condition was provided as of press time.

Police also confirmed that all inmates were accounted for and safely returned to prison following the crash.

As online criticism mounted, with some Bahamians accusing police of aggressive driving and ignoring traffic laws, Mr Munroe rejected claims that prison buses speed, describing them as “rolling cell blocks” while clarifying that the vehicle involved was a police escort bus.

“I’ve expressed to them that I would prefer they do that outside of rush hours, and that they arrange the security provisions to do it if they can,” he said, adding that his understanding is that inmate transports are typically carried out outside peak traffic periods.

Mr Munroe also reminded motorists that road traffic laws require drivers to give way to government vehicles with lights and sirens, stressing that this obligation applies to more than ambulances alone.

He said inmates are wards of the state and the government is responsible for their medical care, adding that he had not yet been briefed on the outcome of the traffic investigation.

Deputy Chief of Corrections Bernadette Murray, meanwhile, said the construction of new court facilities would be timely in addressing public concerns about inmate convoys moving through residential areas.

“By having it here, it will make it much easier and safer,” she said, “not having that long convoy and noise going through the streets, and the fast pace of how the bus travels through residential areas.”

The incident follows calls for authorities to change the practice of rushing prisoners to and from the Bahamas Department of Corrections during rush hours.

In October, a Tribune editorial called the practice “an inconvenience to other road users” that is “dangerous in the extreme, since the 'Prison Bus' does not abide by traffic lights, let alone any of the rules of the road.”