State agrees to compensate ex-prisoner for burns

The State has agreed to compensate an ex-prisoner who suffered burns after slipping on wet tiles at the Port of Spain prison in 2019.

Steffon Samuel, who worked in the prison’s kitchen, will receive $85,500 in damages. The State will also pay his legal costs.

He was represented by attorneys Joseph Sookoo and Abigail Roach of Potentia Chambers in a negligence lawsuit against the State.

His attorneys claimed the prison service failed to satisfy its duties by taking reasonable precautions for Samuel's safety while he worked in the kitchen. They said this led to him slipping on wet tiles while carrying a large pot of coffee. The incident took place on November 28, 2019.

At the time, Samuel was serving a three-year sentence and was assigned to the kitchen and ration room as a server.

His duties included serving other prisoners, preparing produce, making tea and carrying out garbage. He and another prisoner were instructed to move a boiling pot of coffee from the stove to the other side of the kitchen. The stove is located on a concrete platform and Samuel’s lawsuit said after revving one of the handles, he stepped off the platform when he slipped on wet tiles and the pot tilted in his direction. The boiling coffee fell on his hands and upper body.

His lawsuit also said another prisoner had slipped and fallen months earlier.

“There were no warning signs or notices on display indicating the tiles were wet and there were no slip resistance mats in the kitchen.”

Samuel was taken to the infirmary and then to the Port of Spain General Hospital. He claimed he suffered second-degree burns to 11 per cent of his body, immediately developed blisters on some areas, and had to be given injections for the pain. The more heavily burned skin had to be debrided (removal of damaged tissue) by doctors at the hospital.

For two-and-a-half months he returned to the hospital almost daily for his burns to be cleaned and dressed. The burns on his arm got infected twice, his lawsuit said.

It also took some two-and-a-half months for his burns to heal and he “now has permanent scars.” The State’s consent was entered into on September 23, and approved by Justice Kevin Ramcharan.