No special treatment for Panday

COMMISSIONER of Prisons John Rougier, yesterday said former prime minister Basdeo Panday was not receiving special treatment at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca.

His statement came shortly after a noon-time visit to Panday by his wife Oma and their daughters’ Nicola and Vastala, when prison officials refused to allow them to give the 72-year-old politician a change of shirt, after he had spent a night at the prison

They were forced to leave with the shirt following an hour-long meeting with Panday, whom sources say will have to wear normal prison attire.

Panday was sentenced to two years with hard labour for failing to declare his London bank account to the Integrity Commission. It was while they were leaving the prison that Oma got word that Panday’s position as Opposition Leader was declared vacant by President Maxwell Richards. The news was met with shock and disbelief on all their faces as Panday’s driver asked whether he still had a job.

Asked how Panday was doing, Oma told reporters he was “doing well.” Rougier also told Newsday that Panday was in “good spirts” and was kept at the infirmary, away from the regular prison population.

Rougier explained that because of Panday’s age, health and other factors he was being allowed to stay in the infirmary, but insisted this had nothing to do with special treatment.

Rougier claimed that the “hard labour” that Panday was sentenced to serve, does not mean “burning hot sun and cutting down logs and trees.”

“Labour means doing agriculture, academics, maintenance, and baking. It just means working within the system,” he said.