[UPDATED] Prison officer arrested in underwear after pelting rocks at police station

A prison officer who showed up at a police station around midnight wearing only underwear and demanding to be arrested was granted his request, after he fought with police and threw stones at the building.

Around 11.45 pm on February 12, the man went to the Malabar Police Station and banged on the front door.

Police heard the commotion and saw the man kneeling about four feet away, facing the door.

He was reportedly initially calm, but became aggressive as police approached him.

The suspect put his hands behind his back and began shouting, "Allyuh lock meh up!"

As police got closer, he attacked and held on to a police officer, who managed to break free from his grip.

After the officer escaped, the man picked up two rocks and threw them at the building. The first broke a window and landed inside the CID office, and the other smashed through the glass front door.

The officer who had escaped from the suspect’s grip tried to subdue him again, and after a lengthy struggle was able to handcuff him.

The injured officer and the attacker were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex.

Police said the attacker was a prison officer attached to the Ankle Monitoring Unit.

The man was charged with malicious damage to government property, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.

Union: Mental health ‘No laughing matter’

Head of the Prison Officers Association Gerard Gordon says he has no answers as to what may have led to the incident but described it as a psychological breakdown.

Addressing comments on social media, Gordon said what happened is “no joke nor is it something to be laughed at.”

He said the incident “places a light” on mental health and mental-health issues, affecting prison officers and men in general.

Gordon said prison officers faced a complex challenge given the environment in which they worked and none were immune to the effects of the job.

“It does have an impact on all officers, including myself, (because) who is next to the fire feels the heat.”

He said while the public might feel generally unsafe, such was heightened for prison officers who also felt traumatised by the deaths of their colleagues over the years.

He said officers were left to deal with a lot of unresolved trauma as those murders had eroded officers’ feelings of safety.

“The fact that we have lost so many of our coworkers and friends, it truly is a very trauma-filled environment. You always have to look over your shoulder or behind you.

“There are a lot of triggers, there are a lot of challenges and then after leaving the prison we still have, like everyone else, have to face the challenges of simply living and existing in society.”

He said the stress of the environment affected people differently and the effects were manifested in different ways, particularly in those who were unable to manage their feelings as they should.

“Some people turn to alcohol or substance abuse… Some people become alienated from their families so you see high incidences of divorce and separation amongst staff.”

Gordon: Money more important than people

Gordon said prison officers’ mental health was not being taken seriously and added it was hard to get funding for it.

Gordon said aspect of the Prison Service's employee assistance programme (EAP) was scrapped owing to administrative issues surrounding its cost.

“There was no way for the state to properly audit what they were paying for. You're just receiving bills and then because of confidentiality, we are not using any names. So it was a challenge.”

He said since then, officers tried to use the services of the prison psychologists but it is difficult.

“We have I think five psychologists who have been hired and they work exclusively within the prison. But the challenge is, with a prison population of almost 4,000 inmates, then you add just over 3,000 prison officers, five people certainly cannot address, deal with and meet the needs of such a large population.”

Gordon said a solution was necessary if there was any real intention to protect prison officers’ mental health.

“We could have some changes to that system which would allow for more accountability. But certainly what we want is to allow more access, the staff to have more access to that sort of support and care.

He praised the police though for finding a non-lethal solution to the incident.

“I want to commend the police officers at the Malabar station because it could have gone a different way.”

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A PRISON officer who showed up at a police station around midnight wearing only underwear and demanding to be arrested was granted his request, after he fought with police and threw stones at the building.

Around 11.45 pm on February 12, the man went to the Malabar Police Station and banged on the front door.

Police heard the commotion and saw the man kneeling about four feet away, facing the door.

He was reportedly initially calm, but became aggressive as police approached him.

The suspect put his hands behind his back and began shouting, "Allyuh lock meh up!"

As police got closer, he attacked and held on to a police officer, who managed to break free from his grip.

After the officer escaped, the man picked up two rocks and threw them at the building. The first broke a window and landed inside the CID office, and the other smashed through the glass front door.

The officer who had escaped from the suspect’s grip tried to subdue him again, and after a lengthy struggle was able to handcuff him.

The injured officer and the attacker were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex.

Police said the attacker is a prison officer attached to the Ankle Monitoring Unit.