Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe recently gave an update on the status of the Bahamas Department of Corrections Services (BDOCS) quest to become an accredited correctional facility.

While addressing BDOCS officers at a church service Munroe said, “we’re almost there.  It’s for the toilets to be put into the Remand Center and for segregation cells in the Juvenile Detention Center and the Female Residence Unit and then we will be able to have in this country, for the first time, accredited correctional housing facilities.  It’s not just the buildings that need to be certified it’s also the staff.  So the American Correctional Association (ACA) is also evaluating you.  And if those are the biggest issues that they have drawn to our attention.”

The Minister also spoke to the role of inmates.  He said, “if they are given the opportunity to work and in order not to traffic them, they will be paid.  And so you may be alarmed at $15, $30 is small money but we’re given them three meals a day. We’re gonna improve the quality of that as well.  There’s a service on the way for that and we are paying for them their housing.  And so it is my view that to be held accountable the public should not pay for your incarceration and we’re moving closer and closer to that goal.”

BDOCS failed its accreditation evaluation last year.  Munroe is confident the facility will achieve this goal.