Legislation to protect prison officers early next year

ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi has announced legislation to protect prison officers will come to Parliament in early 2019.

He was responding to a question in the Senate on Tuesday.

He said the law has been drafted and it came about in conjunction with the Law Reform Commission, the Prison Officers' Association, the prisons, through the Commissioner of Prisons, and their delegated representatives, as well as the AG's Secretariat and, very importantly, theNational Security Ministry.

"So we've done that work already. What we're actually doing right now as well is improving the product across the law-enforcement services. So whilst we've crafted what looks like a very good product supported by the stakeholders in the prison officers' environment the protection across police, customs, immigration, et cetera, that is now a wider product that we're just tuning into now with those stakeholders."

In October prison officer Darren Francis, who was based at the Prison Service radio station, was found dead at the side of his home at Hindustan, Princes Town. He had been shot once in the head. Police had said the murder came hours after prison authorities received a report that a "hit" had been put on the life of a prison officer.

Francis' murder came three weeks after head of the Maximum Security Prison in Golden Grove, Arouca, Supt Wayne Jackson, was gunned down in the yard of his Malabar home.

Over the last 28 years more than 20 prison officers have been shot and killed.