Lead Editor - Newsgathering
chester.sambrano@guardian.co.tt
Former minister of National Security Marvin Gonzales says the discovery of a 65-inch television in a prison cell exposes serious failings by the Government, which he claims came into office unprepared to tackle crime.
Gonzales, who served on the National Security Council under the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration, yesterday said the public should have received a full explanation from current Minister of National Security Wayne Sturge, after he made the revelation during a pre-budget meeting on Wednesday.
“Minister Sturge should have been providing the nation with a proper explanation on how a 65-inch television arrived in a prison cell and why all security measures that were put in place to prevent this very kind of criminality failed,” Gonzales said.
“He should then assure the nation of what measures will be implemented to prevent this from happening in the future. He has now fallen into grave error by appealing to the population to be patient. Clearly, the UNC has been caught with its proverbial pants down when they were elected on April 28, since they really never had a plan to treat with all aspects of criminality in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Gonzales said the Government is now “scrambling and exposed” and accused them of asking the country to “hold strain” in the face of growing public alarm.
Asked whether he had ever heard of the television during his tenure, Gonzales replied, “Never. Nothing of this nature was ever reported to me.”
Also contacted yesterday, criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad described the claim as astonishing.
“I could see sneaking a cell phone into the prison. I can’t see sneaking in a 65-inch television. If you could get a 65-inch television to a prisoner, really, you could get anything to a prisoner,” Seepersad said.
He called on newly appointed Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe to investigate the matter.
“The onus is on Mr Corraspe to do some investigation into that and figure out what’s behind that. It probably didn’t happen under his watch, but he has to figure that one out.”
He said the discovery points to deeper issues within the system and warned that prisoners’ ability to communicate with the outside world has allowed them to issue threats and orchestrate acts of violence.
“Part and parcel of the ability of prisoners to even leverage those threats against officers hinges on the fact that the same corrupt practices that some of the officers engage in, for instance, giving them cell phones, thereby gives them the power to have that leverage over the officers,” he said.
“If they are able to really properly isolate the prisoners in terms of not being able to communicate with the outside world, then there’s no way at all that a prisoner could, let’s say, call shots on a prison officer’s family or on a prison officer.”
He added, “The same practices that they are engaging in, sometimes the same corrupt practices of bringing in cell phones, for instance, is the very same thing that is putting them and their families at risk. So, it really is a catch-22.”
To reduce that vulnerability, Seepersad said prison officers should be automatically granted Firearm User’s Licences (FULs), a process he says is currently too difficult despite the high-risk nature of the job. He said the ability to legally carry a firearm would allow officers to better protect themselves and their families, while also deterring attempts at coercion.
Seepersad also called for the isolation of high-risk prisoners, the installation of tamperproof microphones to monitor conversations inside cells, and the regular rotation of inmates between blocks.
He described the current state of affairs as very dangerous and said the Government must act decisively.
“Unfortunately, some people might say, well, it’s a contravention of human rights, I don’t know. But if it is that prisoners want to call shots and have people and their families killed on the outside, and businessmen, and threatening politicians and judicial officers and stuff, then the State has no option but to take stronger measures.”
