Bermuda Department of Corrections

Bermuda Department of Corrections
Bermuda Department of Corrections
	Flag of Bermuda
Abbreviation	DOC
Agency overview
Formed	2002 (current name)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Bermuda
Legal jurisdiction	Bermuda
Operational structure
Headquarters	HMS Rooke
Elected officer responsible	National Security Minister;
Parent agency	Bermuda Government
Website
	Official Website

Bermuda Department of Corrections, formerly Her Majesty's Prison Service, Bermuda, is the agency charged with managing the

US

) rather than the more usual "HM Prison Service" as is customary.

History

HM Prison Service was part of the Bermuda Government, and a separate organisation from

Paget Island, and closed in the 1980s with young offenders being placed into Canadian facilities) and a maximum security prison in the former Casemates Naval Barracks at the Royal Naval Dockyard, which was closed in the 1990s and replaced with the Westgate Correctional Facility. The service also operated the Pendle Hill Prison Farm for low-risk convicts and a Co-Educational Facility for female offenders, both of which are still in use at Ferry Reach, St. George's Parish.^[2]

The service suffered a number of scandals, including the imprisonment on 14 May 1953, for twelve months of the Warden of Prisons, Albert James Croke, after his conviction for thefts related to irregularities during his term in office. Croke, a former Royal Marines Sergeant, had served in the Bermuda Police Force (now the Bermuda Police Service) from 1937 until his joining HM Prisons, Bermuda, in 1942. He had occupied the post of Warden since 1947.

A riot broke out in the Hamilton Prison on the day of his incarceration as other convicts believed he was receiving preferential treatment. The rioters were subdued with teargas and batons by the

HM Prison Service) arrived to take over in February, 1956.^[3]

A more recent scandal was caused in 1992 when the Prison Officers' Club hosted a Fathers' Day event for which they had imported a troupe of female strippers called the Luscious Lollipops. Two officers were convicted of indecency in Magistrates' Court. The Acting Senior Magistrate, John Judge, said the show was "outrageously indecent by any standards" and fined Frost $500 and Cann $400. His decision was subsequently reversed by the Chief Justice, Sir James Astwood, who ordered the fines to be repaid and recommended that the two men be permitted to keep their jobs. The two officers had been defended by former Prosecutor Saul Froomkin.^[4]

In 2002, the Government of Bermuda announced a new mindset concerning the treatment of offenders, redesignating the prisons as correctional facilities. HM Prison Service, Bermuda, was renamed in accordance with this policy as the Department of Corrections. As the party in Government at the time, the

Bermuda International Airport

was renamed L.F. Wade International Airport on the 16 April 2007, in honour of L. Frederick Wade, who had been one of the leaders of the PLP during its long years in opposition).

Prisons

Westgate Correctional Facility
Prison Farm
St. George’s Co-Educational Facility
The Right Living House

References

^ Prisons name change heralds new mindset, by Karen Smith. The Royal Gazette. Published 26 March, 2002
^ Government of Bermuda: Department of Corrections
^ New Warden of Prisons Takes Over. The Bermuda Recorder. 22 February 1956
^ Luscious Lollipops Prison Officers given an absolute discharge. The Royal Gazette. 27 October, 1992
^ Reuters: McDonald's Try To 'Rape' Bermuda
^ Bermuda 4U: 1990s McDonald's Controversy

External links