Prison officers stay away from work after murder

Despite assurances by Minister of National Security Stuart Young that short-term measures will be introduced to ensure the security of prison officers, there was a high level of absenteeism at prisons.

The absenteeism was confirmed by president of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards,who said morale was at an all-time low. Acting Prisons Commissioner Dane Clarke said while there may have been some absenteeism it did not affect operations at the prisons.

The head of the Maximum Security Prison, Supt Wayne Jackson, was ambushed and shot dead as he arrived at his Malabar home on Tuesday evening.

Richards said, “A significant number of officers across the board are demotivated, disenchanted, But the minister would have made some announcements that we are responding favourably to, but we will be monitoring to ensure that these initiatives are put in place to alleviate the frustrations of officers.”

Richards lamented, “The blood of prison officers is being spilt on the streets of TT and in those cases they are only guilty of coming to work and doing their jobs to the best of their ability and they are paying the ultimate price for that.”

He said the mood at the prisons is a sombre one and officers are afraid for their lives, and believe there is not enough effort to deal with safety issues. There is hardly an officer in the prison service who has not been the recipient of threats, he said.

"What we are looking for in terms of protection is that major laws be put in place to act as a deterrent and laws which will seek to provide officers with certain mechanisms to be made available."