LIGHTS OUT ON REMAND

SINCE 2013, senior prison officials have complained via letters that the poor lighting at the Remand Yard at Golden Grove Prison, Arouca was a security breach and needed to be addressed.

On May 15, eight prisoners took advantage of the poorly lit cells and perimeter to escape from the upper south wing. Six were recaptured while two, believed to be the masterminds, are still on the run. Prison sources said the overcrowded cells and lack of lighting made for great cover for the escapees.

“We have to do regular and irregular rounds about every 15 minutes. It have eight men to a cell sometimes with about three beds, so men does use sheets to make hammocks. In the day it is hard to see into the cells so you have to call the men forward to see them. You could imagine you waking up the prisoners to check them in the night. What we do is look for anything out of the ordinary,” said a prison officer.

Sources said before the escape was noticed one inmate, Olatungi Denbow, requested to go into the cell that he and the other seven escaped from. All of the prisoners are practising Muslims and during Ramadan, special provisions are made for Muslim inmates. One of the special arrangements is to group them together so when they are awakened around 5 am to prepare for prayers they will not disturb other inmates. The men escaped sometime between last Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. Five were recaptured on Wednesday evening and the sixth the following day.

Those who were recaptured have been identified as: Stefon Austin of Erin; Joshua Janet of Brasso Seco, Paria; Mikhale Mohammed of Wallerfield, Arima; Brent Johnson of Five Rivers, Arouca; Atiba Sealy of Five Rivers, Arouca and Kerry Valentino of Quash Trace, Sangre Grande. Denbow of Dan Kelly, Picton Road, Laventille and Michael Findley of Laventille are both on the run. Sources believe these men planned their escape well while the others just went along with a spur of the moment breakout without any plan given that all of them were arrested within the Las Lomas area, near to each other.

Prisons Commissioner Gerard Wilson when contacted said there is lighting on the perimeter of the prison and earlier this year there was an increase in the voltage for the premises for enhanced lighting.

“Yes, it could be better,” he said.

In Parliament on Friday, the Prime Minister said after the preliminary report is received a decision will be made to determine if it will be necessary for an inquiry to be done by the National Security Ministry.

Wilson said he mandated an assistant superintendent to investigate the prison break and gave the officer 30 days to complete the probe. This was done after he received a preliminary report which, he said, was passed on to the ministry.

Prisons Officers Association president Ceron Richards hopes Wilson will stick to his word and have a thorough investigation, but said the judicial process was a deeper factor to consider.

“This situation has its root cause in the perceived lack of justice in the judicial system and when you add to that mix, the lack of proper infrastructural development, and short-staff then there is opportunity for demotivated inmates who become motivated to leave the prison to explore,” he said.

“Once you have inmates crammed in a system with the judiciary we have operating today, that doesn’t bring any real justice in terms of the length of time cases are in court, which on average of is ten years plus. You will have a tense situation where inmates believe that the only way to get justice is to take the law into their own hands and escape.”

For years, the prison service have been appeal for improvements. Six years ago, after prison officers threatened to not take up duty after colleagues were murdered, a nine-member committee headed by Prof Ramesh Deosaran was mandated by the PP government to look into the conditions at prisons and submit a report. The special committee was set up after the shooting death of off-duty prisons officer Andy Rogers, in Malabar, which started a chain of events, including a protest from officers and riots among prisoners. A key recommendation was a new facility.

“It is not about making it a hotel, but there is insufficient support to deal with inmates. A prisoner is not a lowlife you know, they have intelligence just like anyone else, so if the system is not supporting us to effectively do our jobs, how can we? I am not saying that if an officer is found to be guilty in assisting them then he should not be held responsible, but the system needs to upgrade,” an officer said. “We not even in the dark ages, we are in the caveman ages.”

Two years after the 2015 deadly jailbreak at the Port of Spain prison, three officers were suspended and are before a disciplinary tribunal of the Public Service Commission. They are acting Supt Wilbert Lovell, and prison officers II Lancelot Duntin and Mervin Pierre. Lovell, Duntin and Pierre were suspended on August 2, 2015. Their matters are still before the tribunal.

On July 24, 2015, Allan “Scanny” Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher “Monster” Selby shot their way out of the prison on Frederick Street. PC Sherman Maynard was killed during the incident while prison officer Leon Rouse was shot and wounded.

Martin was killed during a shootout with police near Port of Spain General Hospital while Atwell was murdered two days later, after hiding in Port of Spain. Selby surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station on July 27, one day after Atwell was found murdered.