PoS prisons locked down...again

NALINEE SEELAL

A joint team of police, prison officers and soldiers on Wednesday locked down the Port of Spain prison and searched for arms, ammunition, drugs and improvised weapons. The raid was carried out as part of a routine operation to rid the prison of illegal items smuggled inside. It began shortly after 9 am and ended at 3 pm.

Areas close to the Frederick Street prison were heavily manned by police and soldiers. Some areas were blocked off to traffic while the six-hour operation took place.

Prisons Commissioner Gerard Wilson said the exercise was a routine one and had nothing to do with any information about any specific prisoner or information that guns and ammunition had been smuggled into the prison for use by inmates.

He said the exercise centred on searching the cells because of intelligence, adding that as a result of the seizures he remains convinced that smuggling illicit items into the prison continues to plague the system. Wilson said every effort will be made to stamp it out, it will not be business as usual and any officer who assists will be found and prosecuted.

The exercise came six days after Port of Spain CID raided a parlour opposite the prison, arrested three people and seized 15 cellphones and drugs packaged and ready to be smuggled into the prison.

Wilson said yesterday that all went well in the joint operation and although the Emergency Response Unit was present there was no need for their services because inmates did not issue threats or had any confrontations with the raiding officers.

During the last exercise two weeks ago, seven prisoners were allegedly beaten by prison officers from the Emergency Response Unit.

The beatings were taped on a cell phone and the footage went viral last Wednesday. The seven affected prisoners have not sought legal redress.