Murder accused found hanging in cell

Pompey, 59, had been charged with the murder of Josiah Martinez, 16, after the teenager was shot during a heated argument at his Upper Seventh Avenue, Barataria home, on December 15, 2016.

The murder accused, a retired employee of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), had only recently appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar on Thursday in the Portof- Spain Eight Magistrates Court.

His first scheduled appearance in court, recently, was aborted as he was rushed to hospital to undergo medical attention. Before his court appearance, Pompey had complained about experiencing discomfort in one of his legs.

Yesterday, prisons authorities confirmed Pompey was found hanging in his cell in what appeared to be an apparent suicide but offered no further details about the incident.

However, president of the Prisons Officers Association (POA) Ceron Richards said yesterday the incident could have been prevented if there were more manpower on the ground.

He told Sunday Newsday that although some inmates experience a high level of depression, Pompey could have been saved.

“When you look at the officer population, they are very shortstaffed and in most instances are under-prepared to treat with all the security needs,” Richards said.

“The POA has always been expressing over the years, the need to have proper staffing levels and have proper technological monitoring systems so that you can deal with these type of incidents that occur from time to time.

“So while no officer will be at fault from this incident, the fact of the matter is that it points to some of the deficiencies in the TT Prisons Service.

“If an inmate can just hang himself and when you look at the ratio between officers and inmates, sometimes an officer has to monitor and secure hundreds of inmates and obviously that will tell you that the Service does not have enough resources to have eyes and ears everywhere,” he added Insisting that the Prisons Service needed resources to effectively carry out its mandate, Richards predicted the phenomenon will continue if nothing is done to address staff shortages.

“In modern correctional systems, technology and other implementation will assist in reducing these types of incidents,” he said.

“So this is definitely a lesson for the Trinidad and Tobago Prisons Service. It is not the first time that it would have happened.” He recalled an inmate had committed suicide about two years after becoming frustrated with the accommodation in the system and the manner in which his matter was being addressed.

“These things have happened in the past and we would have been making the same call over and over for years. This is the result of a system that is not properly monitored, a system that is under- prepared on the basis of resources to treat with these type of incidents,” Richards said.

Richards complained that issues affecting prisons officers were not being given the attention it deserved.

“We have not been seeing the priority been given in such an environment and yet we are expected to perform at an optimum,” he said.

Richards said he did not blame any officer for Pompey’s death “since officers do their best on the job in the interest off the State.” An investigation has since been launched into the incident.