Crippled prison officer sues over non-promotion

SEVERAL bullet wounds from “criminal elements” left prison officer Graeme Lewis, 49, paralysed in 1990. Currently confined to a wheelchair, prison authorities have since transferred Lewis from regular jail duties to the administrative section of the Maximum State Prison. Last year, Lewis was informed by Prison Commissioner Leo Abraham that because he is a paraplegic and wheelchair-bound, he cannot be further promoted in the Prison Service.

Lewis is legally challenging Commissioner Abraham in a High Court action. On May, 15, 2002, Commissioner Abraham informed Lewis that “on account of your physical condition, it would be difficult to justify your selection to fill one of the positions.”  The position Lewis is vying for is that of prison supervisor and Lewis is one of several prison officers who have been successful in  recommendations for the position.  Lewis contends in a constitutional motion that Commissioner Abraham made him feel that he had been discriminated against when he stated in the letter to him that other persons were more fortunate than him for promotion. The motion was filed in the San Fernando Sub-Registry by attorney Anand Ramlogan and has been listed to come up for hearing next month. In an affidavit, Lewis stated that after 27 years in the service, he was, on February 22, 1990, shot at by “criminal elements” while he was on his way home. He was in prison uniform at the time, he stated.

Lewis is contending that he is the most senior to his other colleagues for the post of prison supervisor. Commissioner Abraham recognised that Lewis had been successful in being recommended from a list of several persons. But the letter from Commissioner Abraham to Lewis, now a Prison Officer II, informed him that he (Lewis) was unable to ascend and descend staircases and steps to conduct rounds of inspection. If given the job, the letter stated, the duties of prison supervisor would severely restrict his effectiveness. But Lewis is contending in his motion that the Commissioner and the Public Service Commission discriminated against him and treated him unequally. Lewis is further contending that he is entitled to equal treatment from a public authority as far as his employment is concern.