Prison Officers call for ‘gun amnesty’

FOUR prison officers armed with placards spent all of yesterday outside the Port-of-Spain Prison, seeking to send a message to the relevant authorities to institute a system where persons in possession of illegal arms and ammunition can surrender the weapons. The action by the prison officers was prompted by the brutal murder of their colleague Winston Sandy, a paramedic at the Port-of-Spain Prison, who was gunned down at Alexander Place, Laventille, last Wednesday night.

He was shot twice in the head, twice in the hands and once in the leg. Kenneth Forgenie, a shop steward of the Prison Officers’ Association, said yesterday that prison officers who worked alonsgide Sandy have been badly affected by his death, and they all feel that the time has come for the government to put a system in place to rid the country of illegal weapons. He referred to a statement by Police Commissioner Hilton Guy recently during the second launch of his anti-crime initaitive, where he indicated that more than 75 percent of the murders are being committed with illegal arms and ammunition.

The Commissioner called on all police officers to try and seize as many of those weapons as possible during raids and searches. Forgenie claimed that the criminal elements were now in possession of sophisticated arms and ammunition, and those weapons are being used in several murders and shootings. He added that his colleague was an innocent man and did deserve to die such a horrible death. He added that officers will again stage the placard protest on Wednesday and Friday, with the hope that someone in authority will heed their call to introduce what he referred to as  a “gun amnesty.”

Ramon Ransome, a prison officer for the past 31 years said that the “straw which broke the camel back” came on Wednesday following the murder of his colleague. He pointed out that Sandy was killed by an illegal weapon and it is time that the authorities put something in place to rid the country of such weapons. He added that the situation has reached a crisis state and the authorities must act with haste now. He pointed out that the fear now exists in the prisons that any day now another prison officer could suffer the same fate as Sandy. There are over 2000 prison officers in the prison service.

On Saturday night, prison officers staged a candlelight vigil outside the Port-of-Spain Prison. Prayers were offered for the slain officer. Police investigations have so far revealed that one month ago, Sandy, 35, reported to senior officers at the Port-of-Spain Prison that he was receiving death threats from gang members from the Nelson Street area. President of the Prison Officers’ Association Claude Galston, last week issued a call for certain prison officers be issued with guns to protect themselves. The funeral of Sandy will take place today at 3 pm at the Holy Trinity Cathedral under full military rites. His body will be interred at the Western Cemetery. The prison band will provide music at the funeral and the eulogy will be read by a prison officer. Prisons Commissioner Leo Abraham, members of his executive, and other senior officers will attend the funeral.