Prison strained by staff suspensions
(CNS Video): Cayman Islands Prison Director Neil Lavis says challenges at the prisons are putting a strain on the service after two officers were dismissed from HMP Fairbanks while three are on suspension from HMP Northward over an internal scandal, at a time when the facility is already short staffed and straining at the seams. In a candid and exclusive interview with CNS reporter Kenneth Bryan, the prison boss discusses the two internal investigations at Northward and his connections to one of the suspended members of staff.
Cayman Islands Prison Director Neil Lavis
There are over 200 prisoners in custody at Northward and the service is facing the implementation of the new Conditional Release Law, which calls for much more structured sentencing planning and rehabilitation as well as the need to meet the requirements of the Bill of Rights. All this is putting the prison service under significant stress. However, while the budget for the probation service which provides support to inmates has been cut, the budget to run the prisons has been boosted this year by almost $1m over last year.
In the first of a series of videos about the prison, Lavis speaks openly about the investigations and the additional challenges they have caused at the facility.
Check back to CNS for more on progress being made with prisoners and their rehabilitation.
Better make some space in there for all the white collar guys coming your way soon.
Mr Lavis is doing well so far in running our Prison. Great man and he’s fair as well.
Is he ready though for the disgusting negative press and the fact that he will be hounded out of the job like Derek haynes. He is introducing some very good initiatives and his professionalism and fairness is what we desperately need on this island. Let the man do the job he was brought here to do.
What I don’t understand, Ezzard Miller and Tara Rivers continuously screaming hire caymanians hire caymanians how come the prison isn’t hiring any caymanians pay is good benefits are good….so it goes back to the minimum wage again who is that really gonna help, not a caymanian for they won’t work for a good salary let alone a minimum wage
The Prison Director has my full support. I hope he is able to maintain his professional code of conduct, before Chief Officers and Politicians shut him up. The other side of this is the inhumane treatment that exists in the Prison Services – leaking roofs, intolerable heat, poor food, lack of medical attention and last, but most importantly, the poor treatment that our mentally ill people suffer at in the Prison Services.
In anticipation of the response of “that’s what they deserve”, I say to ALL the God Fearing Caymanians – it Jesus and Father God had taken that approach you would have NO Christianity today. Think about that before you rattle off some evil “Devil” response.
if there was no Christianity there would be no devil
This is good reporting and revealing. I admire Neil for other reasons but there are legal problems revealed here. First, he seems to be intimately involved with the investigations which is a legal problem as you can’t be involved with the case before you hear it. This is grounds for judicial review. Next, he clearly admits that there is a significant conflict of interest as he was closely assoiciated with the individual as was his wife. Sufficient grounds that he should not have sat on the Panel. But before he’s thrown under the bus remember Eric Bush is the chief officer and his deputy chief officer who should be answering some tough questions about their incompetence. This requires an independent investigation. Bryan next stop is at Eric and his deputy with responsibility for the prison.
im pleased to see a director who can stand up and tell the truth. I agree if there was others on the interview who thought she was qualified. im sure they were not all uk staff interviewing too.
Keep it up Cayman. You have almost won the war on drugs. It’s working. Really it is. Zzzzzzzzz………
I am absolutely amazed at the negative attitudes towards Cayman regardless of whether the news story is about an achievement or a failure. It appears that some people can’t wait for Cayman to fail.
You’ve missed the point dear. Let me explain it to you in very simple terms. By filling the prison at vast cost primarily to incarcerate petty drug offenders Cayman is bringing itself down. So, you see, the post is not being negative to Cayman. Rather it is highlighting a flawed system that is bad for Cayman. Go back to your nap now.