By Staff Writer
Prime Minister Dr. The Hon. Timothy Harris says his administration has not yet evaluated the cost of building a new penitentiary. He made this admission after the government announced that Estridge Estate has been chosen as the site for construction of the new prison.
Dr. Harris said, There has been as far as I am aware no complete evaluation of the cost for the type of facility that would be required to service those who are in prison and those who are likely to be.’ Mr. Harri addressed the issue at his monthly media conference Wednesday, March 16 and said construction of the new facility will be the responsibility of the Ministry of National Security under the leadership of Osmond Petty. One governmental activity has been to make a detailed drawing of the facility.
For many years, speculation has circulated that Her Majesty’s Prison was overcrowded. This was confirmed during a recent press conference following the closure of the prison when Superintendent of Prison Juni Hodge noted that the facility was indeed overcrowded.
When asked by The Observer for the number he pointed out that there are currently 208 prisoners — 203 males and five females.
According to PM Harris, the government has already started with the preliminary work, pointing out that “everything that we can reasonably do to bring the new prison facility into being, is being done by this new administration.”
Several prisons around the region are being studied by the administration for possible duplication in the Federation.
