Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
Wipe your nose, dry your tears and get back to work! That's the directive of the Prisons Commissioner to the 17 prisons officers who remain on sick leave, following the riot at the Port of Spain prison on March 26.


The Commissioner acknowledges that the job has its challenges, but says, those who can't stand the heat should get out of the kitchen! Rynessa Cutting has more.
Transcript
00:00 wipe your snotty nose, dry up your tears and come back to work. You are here for the long
00:05 haul. You have colleagues who are on the job, struggling to get a job done by you being
00:11 on continued sick leave and by the association saying it's psychological reasons. If you
00:17 cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
00:20 It's unlikely to be what the prison's officers want to hear from their commissioner. But
00:26 with three weeks having elapsed since the riot at the Port of Spain prison, it appears
00:30 that the prison's commissioner has had enough.
00:33 Instead of the association encouraging hard work and dedication, they are encouraging
00:40 misbehaviour. Both sides were injured in that incident, inmates and officers. How come the
00:46 inmates over that and get on with living their lives in the prison? But my officers crying,
00:53 crying, crying, wipe your snotty nose and come back on the job.
00:57 Commissioner Ramutha says he acknowledges that the job and the facilities do have their
01:02 challenges. But he tells TV6 improvements have been made.
01:08 The conditions have increased 300 times more than when I joined the service 35 years ago.
01:15 When I joined the service, Port of Spain prison was total was 1,100 plus inmates. Now it's
01:23 just about 500. So right here by numbers it has been improved. We have expanded divisions
01:30 to make the facility more spacious. We have moved out bulk of remanded inmates to other
01:37 facilities. One has to be reminded that this is a prison and not a hotel.
01:41 The prison's commissioner is calling on the Prison Officers Association to support the
01:46 prison service.
01:47 I think the greatest enemy to officers right now are the leaders of the Prison Officers
01:52 Association. When you listen to their remarks and so on, it is to destabilise the prison
01:58 service and it's to destabilise the country. And that's rather unfortunate. I'm not saying
02:03 to accept bad conditions, but the way you're ranting and raving on the pavement and so
02:08 on, why don't you resign?
02:11 Vanessa Cutting, TV6 News.
02:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Be the first to comment
Add your comment