Chance questions licks in prison

A video clip of prisoners restrained and beaten with batons and kicked by officers of the Officers of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the prison service which went viral last Tuesday has prompted Vision on Mission President Wayne Chance to demand answers from Prisons Commissioner Gerald Wilson why so much excessive force was used on the prisoners.

Chance who is himself a former inmate said yesterday that Commissioner Wilson as well as the senior officer who was present when the beatings were taking place must account for what he termed an “excessive use of force.”

Chance said, “I have concerns with what I have seen via the video which went viral, I know there is a protocol in terms of how situations like these are managed. What I have seen in the video prisoners were already restrained, and an officer was kicking and hitting the inmates, so my concern is if you restrain the inmates then why continue to beat them.”

Chance continued “That was my concern. I took note of what the Commissioner said, I know that inmates can be very problematic and resistant in some instances where searches are conducted, so based on what the Commissioner is saying, if that is what transpired then I can understand why the ERU would have been called in.

The practice is whenever the ERU is called out they are not too friendly when they deal with prisoners”, Chance said.

He said that there should be an explanation from the Prison Authorities as to why so much force was used, even after the inmates were restrained.

He is also calling on the Commissioner to account to the public. There is a protocol in the prison to respond when prisoners become disruptive. “They are not supposed to beat anyone.”

Efforts to reach National Security Minister Edmund Dillon on the matter proved futile. The group, Human Rights Development of Trinidad and Tobago, issued a press release in which it expressed concern over the use of excessive force by prison officers on Tuesday. The group issued a call for a full investigation into the conduct of the prison officers and to ensure that anyone found guilty is duly penalised.