Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe gave an update on plans for the construction of a new correctional facility.
He said, “remember when we came out the gate we came out and we looked at a prison. It’s been looked at, it’s been formulated and that was knowing full well that this was a part of the solution that may come forward with the bail considerations. And it’s not that we’re not doing it, I would think that within another couple weeks there should be able to be an announcement about where we are in it.”
Munroe said the first phase of construction will include a virtual court. “So we transfer people to the family islands for no good reason. We can do those trials now remotely. And so we’re working on multiple fronts at the same time. And so the starting point that the new facility is you have to replace the old virtual court which will be the first thing that we do and then after that you move on to the housing unit. And that is important because again, you have the hospital being disadvantaged when prisoners are brought down to the hospital, areas being locked down, unavailable to the public. And so we’re not waiting until that happens, we’re thinking in advance. And so we’re doing multiple things at the same time.”
