A special unit of police officers has been put together to “police” the prison system “round-the-clock.”
However, the heightened security move is already not going down well as it has caused an uproar among the prison population and prison officers.
The T&T Guardian was told the implanting of the special unit took place yesterday inside the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca. This was one of several decisions taken during a closed-door emergency meeting with Minister of National Security Stuart Young and security heads on Wednesday, following the murder of acting Superintendent of Prisons Wayne Jackson.
Jackson, 50, who had 30 years service, took up his acting position at MSP in February this year. He was not well liked among the inmates and some prison officers. The T&T Guardian was told in recent times under his watch, there were many arrests of prison officers for smuggling in contraband, including cellphones, marijuana, cigarettes, to inmates.
On Tuesday at about 6.30 pm, Jackson had just pulled into the driveway at his home in Malabar home when he was ambushed by two gunmen. Police recovered over 30 spent shells on the scene.
Jackson’s murder “rocked” the T&T Prisons Service and many officers have since then opted to stay away from duties at all the nation’s prisons, including Remand Yard, Golden Grove and MSP, a prisons source who wished strict anonymity confirmed yesterday.
As a result of the prison officers’ action for the past two days at the Remand Yard in Golden Grove, inmates from the Upper and Lower North, South and Top Security blocks were not given their airing times. Inmates were also not allowed visits from relatives.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, the wife of an inmate, who wished not to be identified, said she went as early as 5 am yesterday to see her husband but was told all visits were being put on hold.
“I was told that the prison on lockdown and that officers were on ‘go slow’ because of the murder of the senior officer, but what I couldn’t understand was why these inmates here had to suffer when the senior was heading MSP.”
In a release yesterday, the T&T Police Service confirmed that Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith and a specialised unit of officers “conducted a walk-through” at MSP yesterday morning. The release said the exercise was conducted in a bid to ascertain areas where police officers will be deployed within the MSP.
“This forms part of continued joint efforts toward strengthening all agencies in the Criminal Justice System, which includes a comprehensive security system in the prisons,” the release added.
However, a source told the T&T Guardian officers from the unit will be stationed at MSP on a 24-hour basis “to act as a buffer” and “be the extra eyes on the lookout for illegal items entering the prison.”
The source added that MSP houses some of the country’s most dangerous and influential inmates, many of them incarcerated for murder and kidnappings.
“Over the years, many relationships have been formed and grown between and among inmates and prison officers…many of the officers are believed to be rogue and engage themselves in the aiding and abetting of illicit activities in and outside the prison walls,” the source said.
However, a prison officer, who wished not to be identified, said he was not happy with the implementation of the unit.
“I think we, the prison officers, have manned the prisons well over the years and we can do our jobs without the police. Police officers have their place and it is not inside the prison. We have our reserved reasons. Maybe because of the circumstances security is being beefed up, but we in the Prison Service have our own ways of beefing up security inside these walls.”
Contacted for comment last evening, Griffith said his move was on the request of the acting Commissioner of Prisons Dane Clarke. He added that the presence of officers at the prison will only be “added security and to ensure a secure and safe environment.”
