Prisoners with cellphones

“Hello!  I’m calling from Remand Yard.  When you come bring some chicken and chips.” The caller is not a Prisons Officer but one of the many prisoners who have cellphones in their cells at the Port-of-Spain State Prison, at Golden Grove, at the Maximum Security Prison, Carrera and in the Tobago Prison. Police and Prison officials are trying to determine how these cellphones are getting into the nation’s prison cells, and who is responsible. Telephone calls from cellphones, sources said, are being made from inside cells to people on the outside and it is believed that some persons are making money out of it. A senior official told Sunday Newsday that a prisoner recently contacted “one of his boys” from a cellphone. The individual who was contacted by cell phone was told to get information on the whereabouts of a State witness who has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony in a murder and kidnapping matter.
    
A State witness was found dead recently and it is believed his death was ordered by a prisoner using a cellphone. Sunday Newsday was reliably informed that several cellphones have been confiscated by prison officials in recent times. Sources told Sunday Newsday that a cellphone found in one of the prisons was traced to a woman identified as Rachael McMorrash-Howell of LP#33 Upper St Barb’s Road, St Barb’s.  The number was 779-4413. However, the person who lives at that address is Rachael Marrast-Howell, a temporary clerk typist at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH). The names were close enough but Marrast-Howell’s cellphone number was different. The 26-year-old woman was baffled when Sunday Newsday asked her about the particular cellphone. “Not me.  That is not my cellphone number,” she said.  “This is very strange and there must be some kind of scam and this is scaring me,” she added. Marrast-Howell said she purchased a cellphone for her husband on her name sometime between 1998/1999. The number was 751-9014, but it was stolen on August 24. 

That phone, she said, was in her maiden name, Rachael Marrast, and even so, she said her husband’s stolen phone does not have the same number as the one found in the Prison. Three days (August 27) after her husband’s cellphone was stolen, Marrast-Howell said she made a report to TSTT and was baffled when told that there was no information in TSTT’s system as to the ownership of her husband’s cellphone. After the report was made, Marrast-Howell said information was taken by TSTT and typed on a computer. Sunday Newsday called the numbers of both the stolen phone and the one found in the prison. They are both prepaid. The stolen phone rang out of service, while a recording came up on the one that was found in the prison. After the recording came on the phone found in the prison, a man’s voice then came on, but his name was not easily identifiable. Sources have speculated that the information on Marrast-Howell’s name was somehow transferred to the one found in the prison.

Rachael Howell’s current cellphone is connected to the same St Barb’s address, TSTT’s records show. Asked to explain the apparent mix-up with the names, Rae Ann Harper-Walters, TSTT’s Corporate Communications Manager  said that it is quite possible during a transaction with a customer that a Customer Service Representative could have made a mistake. But Marrast-Howell told Sunday Newsday that her identification card was taken then to get the correct spelling of her name. With respect to the missing information on Marrast-Howell’s husband’s cellphone, Harper-Walters said she has to discuss that matter with TSTT’s Chief Executive Officer, Sam Martin. President of the Prisons Association Claudius Gulston said in an interview on Thursday that they are “vigorously pursuing” the matter of cellphones getting into prisons. Gulston told Sunday Newsday that more than five cellphones have been removed from the Port-of-Spain State Prison in recent times. He could not, however, say how many had been found at the Golden Grove, Maximum Security Prison, Carrera and Tobago Prisons.

“We are trying to find out how those cellphones are coming in,” Gulston said. He added that some of the cellphones are found between prisoners’ belongings in either the Remand Yard, Condemned Section or the area for ordinary convicts. “It could be anybody and ‘no’ I don’t want to assume whether or not prison officers are responsible,” Gulston continued. Maybe, Gulston said, the cellphones are being thrown over walls, and he said there is a definite need to work harder to find the source of the problem. Gulston asked the Prison Administration to come up with answers that could help find those responsible. Acting Commissioner of Prisons Carlo McHoney said if he knew the culprits, he would definitely put a stop to it. “If we knew and didn’t stop it, it means that we are lying down on the job,” McHoney said. He could not say how many cellphones have been found so far. Asked if he felt prison officers were responsible, McHoney replied: “I can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and I can’t put my head on a block for anyone. It will not be fair for me to cast any aspersions on any of my prison officers.” Saying the matter is of great concern, the acting Prisons chief said when cellphones are found in prison cells they do what needs to be done including confiscation. McHoney did not want to say what else prison authorities do, but pointed out that “other action” will be taken based on investigations, and that those caught with cellphones would be dealt with under the Prison Services rules and regulations.