Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
The State has accepted liability for an accident at the Frederick Street prison that resulted in a prisoner suffering second-degree burns from boiling coffee.
Through a consent order before Justice Kevin Ramcharan, the State agreed to pay $80,000 in general damages and $5,500 interest to prisoner Steffon Samuel. They also have to pay his legal costs.
Samuel, represented by attorneys Joseph Sookoo and Abigail Roach of Potentia Chambers, sued the Attorney General for negligence and breach of statutory duty.
In the lawsuit, he claimed the defendant failed to take reasonable precautions for his safety while he was working in the kitchen area of the Royal Gaol in Port-of-Spain on November 28, 2019. He said the prison, its agent, and/or servants had a duty to provide and maintain for him a proper and safe system of work and ought to have known that the floors in the kitchen and ration room were often wet while prisoners worked there. He said those conditions had previously led to at least one other prisoner falling on March 15, 2019.
Samuel, who was serving a three-year jail term, was a server assigned to the prison kitchen and ration room. He slipped on wet tiles while carrying a large pot of coffee and suffered second-degree burns to 11 per cent of his body, including his hands, left upper arm and forearm, and left side of his abdomen.
Around 6 am, Samuel and an inmate known as Justin were instructed to move a boiling pot of coffee from the stove and place it on the ground on the opposite side of the kitchen. They mounted a one-and-a-half-foot platform on which the stove was on to grab the pot handles.
As Samuel stepped off the platform with his right foot, his foot slid on the wet kitchen tiles and he lost balance. The pot tilted in his direction and boiling coffee poured onto his hands, upper body and abdomen.
He was taken to the prison infirmary and then to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. He was discharged later that day with painkillers and paraffin oil to apply to his burns.
Samuel claimed that water, grime and or slippery substances usually accumulated in the area immediately outside of the kitchen where dishes were washed, and water would settle in and around the tiled area. Prisoners would constantly walk in and out of the area causing the water to spread around the entire kitchen and ration room area. Wastewater from garbage also contributed to the wet and slippery floors.
He also claimed there were no warning signs or notices indicating that the tiles were wet and there were no slip-resistant mats. He further stated that the supervising prison officer failed to direct the mopping or drying off of the floors and did not warn him or Justin of the dangers of the wet floors.
Samuel said he wore rubber slippers, as he was not provided with or directed to wear slip-resistant footwear or any particular footwear by the prison, its employees, agents or servants.
