Mr. Timothy Keohane, a former warden, and his brother, Patrick, a correctional expert, represent the second of three generations of family members involved in the prison system in the United States. Prime Minister the Hon. Perry G. Christie, in announcing The Bahamas Prison Reform Commission October 21, named the Keohanes as its outside consultants.
Mr. Timothy Keohane is a retired warden of nine prisons and four jails. He is a noted correctional consultant whose expertise includes jail and prison administration, policy and procedural development, inmate management and classification, internal and external security, and staffing analysis. He has some 40 years� experience in prison administration, and is currently the senior lead auditor for the American Correctional Association, where he has been for the last 14 years.
Explaining his role as auditor, he says: “Prisons and jails that wish to be accredited apply for accreditation to the American Correctional Associations, and they must meet certain standards to be accredited. I lead audit teams, generally two to four people, into a prison where we’ll stay for four days looking at every single aspect of the operation of that facility — across the board of medical care, food service, to security, to inmate block programme, education, anything you can think of relative to prison.
“We inspect, audit and grade, and then we make the recommendation as to whether the facility should be accredited or not.
“In that process, you talk to thousands of inmates, thousands of staff, hundreds of wardens. I’ve done that 348 times now, the most by any auditor in the United States. I was fortunate in 1992 and the year 2000 to win the Chairman of the American Corrections Association’s award for excellent contribution to corrections within the States.”
Mr. Timothy Keohane is usually the person assigned to foreign governmental representatives studying the accreditation process.
Mr. Patrick Keohane, a correctional expert, has served for 32 years with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He is a physical plant, security and custody expert, and at one time had oversight for the entire northeastern United States Federal prison system.
“I am more of a security person,” he says. “I started as an officer, and worked my way through the ranks and ran five of the federal bureau prisons, larger and maximum security prisons for about 17 years.”
Now retired, he was the chief executive officer of five major prisons, and never had an escape.
“I can say that with pride because there are very few wardens anywhere who can say, after 17 years of being a warden, they never had an escape at their facility,” he says. “And it wasn’t by accident. It was because I was out there walking and talking and looking, trying to say if this is a problem or this area here needs attention� because, potentially, it can be a problem. Those are the preventative kinds of things that will assist you in not having an escape.”
When he retired from the prison system three years ago, Mr. Patrick Keohane decided, as his brother had, to become a part of the American Correctional Association.
“I was commissioner for them, which is like a judge, and sat on a commission of 20 professionals that represented an organisation of close to 100,000 people,” he says. “I started a consultant business in prisons, and did a lot of prisons and jails throughout the United States and Canada, and I was also president of the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents for two years, which represents all of the United States and Canada, and wardens and superintendents for anything from a small jail to a maximum security prison.”
The Keohane brothers are well known as trouble-shooters. When “things were bad” at a prison, they always seemed to get assigned to that prison to try to turn it around.
But, says Mr. Patrick Keohane, even though the majority of the time they were in very peaceful, well-organised and well-run institutions, they did not have an easy ride.
“I’ve had two serious situations where there was unrest in prison,” he says.
“In both of them order was restored within a half hour. And it was restored because we had excellent preparation in being able to contain disruptiveness.”
Says Mr. Timothy Keohane: “I’ve been shot at. I’ve been cut with a razor blade. I’ve gone through riots, work strikes, food strikes, hostage situations, staff killing, rape of a staff member, and it’s all part of the responsibility and life of a prison warden. Hopefully, some people go through their career and never experience all those negative things, but it goes hand in hand with the territory, and you must be prepared to deal with it.”
Mr. Patrick Keohane says, “We’ve both gone through those kinds of things.
One of the reasons we’ve gone through those kinds of things is that we were always put into prisons that were the most volatile.”
But he adds: “He (Timothy) has never lost a prison, and I’ve never lost a prison.”
This is the first time both brothers are visiting The Bahamas, but that did not stop them from plunging right into their work.
“This week was get acquainted with the issues,” says Mr. Patrick Keohane.
“Get some expectations from everyone, and put some strategies together in terms of security overview, reviewing the physical plant and taking just a general look at the prison and looking to compare it with national standards of prison management.
“We feel we have a great bit of knowledge and experience, having been there and done that, in dealing with prisons and prison conditions — what is right about prisons and what is wrong about prisons. Maybe we can bring some help and expertise in that area, but it�s the local Bahamians that are on this committee who are going to be playing an extremely important role, and I hope it is a role that is appreciated by the populace.
“Nobody believes in being soft on crime. Nobody wants to be overly tough on crime. We’re trying to reach the middle balance for the quality of life for your loved one who has to go to prison. That’s very important.”
He adds, “The prison is our primary job — to look at the prison, to check the security features of the prison, make suggestions for improvements at the prison, look at some of the old habits and maybe suggest a better way to do things.”
Noting that he is impressed with the government for its initiative, Mr. Timothy Koehane says: “I am not a politically motivated individual; neither one of us is. Politics plays no role in prison work. But this government have got the fortitude and the integrity and the guts to take on a project like they’re taking on, in the short time they’ve been in office, we shake our head in admiration at what they are trying to do.
“Who knows how this is going to come out? We’ll be long gone. But I cannot say enough about a government who is willing to take on this task during these times, and we are going to do our very, very best to come up with a quality and a professional report for the Prime Minister. What happens after that is up to the Bahamians, but thank God, in my opinion, that this country has the type of government that is willing to tackle this task.”
A major part of the Keohane’s work will also involve spending time at the prison talking to management, inmates and staff, says Mr. Patrick Keohane.
They will also be spending many hours on different shifts, watching procedures to critique them, and make suggestions for improvements.
Dr. Elliston Rahming chairs the Prison Reform Commission, and Dr. Sandra Dean Patterson is deputy chairman. Other members of the commission are Dr. Michael Neville, Ms. Marisa Dawne Mason-Smith, Dr. Iva Dahl, Ethegra M. Symonette, Dr. Kendal Major, Dr. Evaneth McPhee, Ms. Marva Minns, Dr. Patricia Symonette, the Rev. Terrance Morrison, ASP Sean Smith, Mr. Stephen Plakaris, Mr. Conrad Fernander, Dr. Michael Toote, Mr. Jeffrey Lloyd, the Rev. Dr. Agnes Glinton and Mr. Quintin Gray. Apart from the Keohanes, outside consultants include Baroness Vivian Stern and Dr. Andrew Coyle.
The multi-disciplinary commission is now studying Her Majesty Prisons and will, in January 2003, submit to the Prime Minister a blueprint on how best to move the prison from a focus on retribution and punishment to that of rehabilitation and reintegration.
Bahamas Information Services
