‘Prison Service a time bomb’

Acting president of the Prison Officers Association (POA), Trevor Richards, has described the prison service as a time bomb waiting to explode, and a death threat. Richards told Newsday that prison officers were working under a great deal of stress due to a shortage of manpower. He made the statement in response to the assault of prison officer Courtney Charles two days ago at the Golden Grove Maximum Security Prison. Charles had been working alone in Section E at Golden Grove, when he was attacked by an inmate with a baton. Charles sustained head injuries and a fractured ankle. He was rescued by inmates and then rushed to the Arima Hospital. Charles is now resting at his Carmichael Village home.

Fellow officers expressed outrage over the attack on one of their colleagues. “If it were not for the other inmates, Charles would have died!” Richards said. The prisoner involved in the attack is currently in an isolated cellblock awaiting  charges by the Superintendent of Prisons, and the Arouca  police. Richards said prison officers have no family quality time and work a six to seven day period. “Charles was alienated, and we are under stress with the staff shortage,” he commented. At the time of the assault, Charles was manning Section E, which is an isolated area. He was in charge of 80 inmates at the maximum penitentiary. The automatic doors opened for the inmates to get “air time” for recreation. It was at that time that he was  assaulted. There are eight prisons across Trinidad and Tobago with 1,800 prison officers in the service.

Richards said the POA was happy to comply with the Government programme but other issues needed to be addressed. “Officers with experience are sent home at retirement age and no one is added to staff,” he disclosed. The retirement age of prison officers is  55. The “Remedial Interventions for Trafficking and Drug use in the Prison Service” will begin  today, and the general workshop is in October. Richards also spoke about drug use in the prisons, but said it was on a small scale. “We are not burying our heads in the sand, and the system has to be taken seriously. We need to eradicate the problems with transparency,” he concluded.