An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

The Prison Of­fi­cers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (POA) has ap­pealed for emer­gency fund­ing so the two ves­sels that ser­vice Car­rera Is­land, Ch­aguara­mas, can un­der­go an im­me­di­ate over­haul af­ter an ex­plo­sion land­ed an of­fi­cer and in­mate in hos­pi­tal.

The ap­peal by the head of the POA, Ger­ard Gor­don, fol­lowed an ex­plo­sion aboard the prison fer­ry Re­store, around 10 am as it was be­ing re­fu­elled at Hart’s Cut Bay, Ch­aguara­mas.

The in­ci­dent left a prison of­fi­cer and in­mate each nurs­ing burn in­juries at hos­pi­tal.

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands it oc­curred as the of­fi­cer, who is the launch me­chan­ic, was re­fu­elling the small­er of the two ves­sels that ser­vice the is­land prison known as “Trinidad Al­ca­traz.”

The of­fi­cer was said to have suf­fered the brunt of in­juries, as one of­fi­cial said, “The clothes he was wear­ing had been burnt off.”

The in­mate, mean­while, was said to have suf­fered mi­nor in­juries.

Both men re­mained hos­pi­talised yes­ter­day.

Near­by of­fi­cers re­port­ed­ly saw a spark sec­onds be­fore the ex­plo­sion and rushed to pull both men from the burn­ing boat.

They were tak­en to the St James In­fir­mary.

The in­ci­dent has again an­gered of­fi­cers who al­leged, “None of the ves­sels are sea­wor­thy.”

They in­sist­ed the Re­store and the sec­ond boat, the NEC Queen, had been in ser­vice for more than ten years, and that cru­cial main­te­nance and up­keep works were lack­ing.

“Of­fi­cers are at­tempt­ing mag­ic on most days,” the head of the Prison Of­fi­cers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (POA), Ger­ard Gor­don, said. He did not dis­pute the claim that the two boats were not sea­wor­thy.

He, too, added his voice to those who said the main­te­nance sched­ule for the two ves­sels had not been ad­hered to.

Gor­don said that be­fore the cur­rent Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er Car­los Cor­raspe as­sumed of­fice in Au­gust, pre­vi­ous ad­min­is­tra­tions had failed to en­sure prop­er ser­vic­ing and main­te­nance of the two ves­sels were done on a time­ly and reg­u­lar ba­sis.

He said re­build­ing of en­gines as well as the scrap­ing of the hull for bar­na­cles had al­so been over­looked over the years.

Gor­don con­firmed what the of­fi­cers claimed—that things had not been done as they should have been.

He said, “When the sys­tems that are in place fail to work as they should, it be­comes life and death for both the of­fi­cers and in­mates.”