Archive for March 5th, 2012
Prison staff drug tested, UK inspection planned
(CNS): As a result of ganja found in the administrative wings of HMP Northward, as well as inside the secure perimeter fences of the prison recently, all guards, prison staff and even officials in the Portfolio of Internal Affairs have been tested for drugs, including the portfolio’s chief officer, Eric Bush. All tests over the four day period were negative, Bush said. The tests were made as the portfolio plans changes to improve the overall operations and effectiveness of Cayman's prison system, and a team of two representatives from the UK prison’s inspectorate visited Cayman this week to do some preliminary assessments ahead of a full inspection expected to take place early in the next financial year.
Explaining the reason for the testing of staff, CO Bush said that there have been concerns about the prison in the community and changes were afoot. He confirmed that the officers who are away or on sick leave will also be tested when they return.
"Whilst a few officers remain to provide a specimen due to overseas travel or approved extended sick leave prior to the testing being initiated, I am happy to report that the 135 results received to date have all been negative,” Bush said. “In addition, the staff of the Department of Community Rehabilitation who work in both the female and male prisons on a regular basis, also submitted to testing willingly, together with their Director, and results were negative for all. The testing was conducted by the Forensic Department at the Health Services Authority. “
Bush said that over the last few years, the prison service has experienced a number of incidents where drugs and other contraband have been found within the secure confines of the prisons. Positive steps are being taken, he said, to improve the overall operations and effectiveness of the service.
Another portfolio initiative is an external third party inspection of the prison system by the UK’s prison inspectors — Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). The Cayman Islands governor has invited HMIP to conducta full inspection of Northward and Fairbanks Prisons. A team of two inspectors were in Cayman last week undertaking a preliminary assessment ahead of the full inspection which will take place in a few months. The last inspection in Cayman was almost a decade ago back in 2001.
HMIP is an independent inspectorate which reports on the conditions for and treatment of those in prisons, young offender institutions and immigration detention facilities. It provides independent scrutiny of the conditions for and treatment of prisoners and other detainees, promoting the concept of 'healthy prisons', in which staff work effectively to support prisoners and detainees to reduce reoffending or achieve other agreed outcomes.
In addition to its role in carrying out a regular programme of inspections in England and Wales, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons may be invited to inspect other facilities, such as those in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Overseas Territories.
Governor Duncan Taylor welcomed the news that there would be an inspection. “A visit by HMIP is timely, given the two recent reports on the quality of life and rehabilitation of local inmates by the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada respectively, and given that it has been some 11 years since the last inspection. I am particularly grateful to HMIP for agreeing to undertake the work for just travel, accommodation and subsistence costs,” he said.
CO Bush has recently reorganized the portfolio’s management structure to focus expertise in the right places and ensure responsibility for the provision of correctional and rehabilitative services are maximized, as he noted that there has been a reduction in rehabilitation.
As part of the re-engineering process, Kathryn Dinspel-Powell’s role has evolved to include responsibility for the strategic oversight of the prison service. As the Deputy Chief Officer for Corrections and Rehabilitation, Dinspel-Powell, with an extensive background in counselling and rehabilitation, will also continue to oversee and support the Department of Community Rehabilitation, which is led by Teresa Echenique-Bowen.
"I am very happy to have someone of Mrs Dinspel-Powell's background and expertise who can guide the strategic development of the corrections and rehabilitation services in the Cayman Islands," Bush added.
Dinspel-Powell began laying the foundation for this by liaising with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) to assess the rehabilitation needs across the continuum, from the prison through to the community. Now that this report has been received, she will be working with key managers and staff in both the prison and the Department of Community Rehabilitation to implement the key recommendations.
“The portfolio, as well as senior management and staff of the prison system, are determined to ensure that our services are in keeping with established best practices in corrections and rehabilitation. We expect that the insight to be gained from an objective third party of this calibre will be invaluable”, said Dinspel-Powell.
Government’s deficit grows
(CNS): Although the Legislative Assembly was set to meet Monday morning to address supplementary spending for this financial year, the planned sitting was cancelled Friday. Sources tell CNS that government is currently wrestling with a deficit somewhere in the region of $10-20 million for this financial year, in contrast to the predicted overall public sector surplus of around $4 million. It is understood that the administration is now seeking ways to plug the hole in the public finances. A combination of the “no more borrowing” policy and pressure from the UK is likely to force government to cut make major spending cuts in the last quarter of this financial year.
Legislators were due to meet today 5 March to deal with the Supplementary Appropriation Bill for this financial year and the Supplementary Annual Plan and Estimates. This would be to ensure extra spending on police and security and other extra government expenses which had not been budgeted for in the 2011-12 financial plan.
In December when the premier delivered the Strategic Policy Statement (SPS) he announced that there was no longer going to be a surplus but the public sector deficit was running at around $4 million. However, it could now be as much as $20 million.
Despite the fall in public coffers, the premier re-instated the civil service cost of living allowance in December, which has put further pressure on government spending. It is also understood that while public expenses have increased, government revenue has declined. With the UK now in charge of government finances and government unable to borrow to fill the financial gap, it will have to make significant spending cuts across the last quarter of the 2011/12 financial year.
No date has yet been set for when government will now bring the Supplementary Appropriation Bill or deal with other outstanding business. The country’s parliament last sat briefly in December some two weeks before the Christmas break and has not resumed since, although there are a number of outstanding issues have not been addressed.
Con man now too poor to pay fines
(New York Post): Multimillionaire fraudster Myron Gushlak blew millions of dollars on his Cayman Islands estate, Bentley and Porsche collections and private jet while out on bail — and now claims he doesn’t owe his New York victims and others a dime. Lawyers for the disgraced Canadian money man have already appeared in Brooklyn federal court to claim that he’s too broke to pony up a $25 million fine. Today, they’ll be arguing that victims of his “pump and dump’’ schemes were simply on the wrong end of a bad economy, so they don’t deserve any of the $17.5 million in restitution that the feds are demanding of him.
In 2009, the year before he was scheduled to be sentenced, Gushlak showed his worth at nearly $90 million. He then blew a massive chunk of it while free on bail, according to documents filed in the Cayman Island courts and obtained by The Post. Living in a palatial seafront manse in the Cayman Islands dubbed Casa Coyaba, he jetted around in a Hawker 800 XP executive plane, making lease payments of $15,000 each month, records show.
Gun club gets public land on peppercorn rent
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Sport Shooting Association has been given land in East End to establish a new gun club after losing its site behind the airport in George Town because of the planned extension of Owen Roberts. Government has leased the 83 acres to the club on a peppercorn rent officials revealed and comes after the club has struggled to find a suitable location for several years. The club will now also be able to expand into a state of the art facility and put the Cayman Islands on the world map of the sport.
The lease for the land opposite the old quarry, was handed over last month to association president Eddie McLean and treasurer Kevin Schirn and the premier said that the club’s new location could enhance the Islands’ tourism product.
“We recognise the potential for sports tourism here, especially with the plans they have to create a world-class facility,” McKeeva Bush said.
The Deputy Premier, whose ministry facilitated the lease said she was pleased to be able to help the club. “I look forward to the membership putting the land to good use for the benefit of themselves, the community and the Cayman Islands as a whole,” Juliana O’Connor-Connolly added.
The new home will offer skeet, trap, pistol and rifle sport shooting, the association president said. To be built with association funds, the facility will amply serve the needs of its 170 members. More importantly, it would be able to host international events.
“Our members have attended Commonwealth, Pan American, Caribbean and Island Games to compete and we are also a part of the International Sport Shooting Federation. Now we can fulfil our longstanding dream of hosting world-class sport shooters right here in the Cayman Islands,” McLean said.
Members are now planning to revive and even expand a Valentine’s sport shooting event that the club used to offer, which invariably brought some 50 international shooting enthusiasts to visit Cayman as the first step towards attracting visiting sports shooters.
“We are elated, excited and truly grateful to government for success at last in securing a property for our new home,” he added.