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CCNTV6
  • 11 months ago
Concerns over the dilapidated conditions at the nation's Prisons are once again being brought to the fore by the representing Association.

The Morning Edition is told of tuberculosis cases, stolen pumps, missing keys yet to be found and a lack of security cameras among other things.

Nicole M Romany tells us more.
Transcript
00:00The investigation continues into the disappearance of a master key that opens
00:05the riot gate or main gate to all the cells at one area of the Oruka women's
00:11prison. According to General Secretary of the Prisons Officers Association Lester
00:16Logie, the locks will now have to be changed. He tells TV6 the key has not
00:22been recovered and the probe is in the preliminary stages. Logie notes that
00:29while these incidents occur occasionally, they are still very serious
00:33and very costly. A statement from the prison service last week stated that
00:39immediate steps were initiated in consultation with the prison's locksmith
00:43to implement countermeasures to secure the gates to prevent any breach of
00:48security at the facility. However, Mr. Logie says the current situation remains
00:54worrisome and he wants the authorities to act now.
01:24He further tells us of a pigeon infestation causing much unease among
01:43officers and placing the health and safety of the association members at
01:47risk. Even noting that a dead pigeon was discovered in the vent at the welfare
01:54division, resulting in an officer being sent for medical attention. Logie says
01:59the administration of the prisons needs to implement health surveillance, which
02:04he says is required by law but lacking within the service. OSHA has identified
02:11several breaches throughout the various prisons and the government is saying
02:16that they have no money. The prison administration is telling us that the
02:20government has no money, so we have to look at how do they prioritize these
02:25resources that they give to the prison. I believe the OSHA needs to be beefed up
02:32in terms of the penalties because it comes like we are reporting Caesar to
02:38Caesar and the penalty is almost minimal for breaches. Logie laments the dire
02:44straits officers are forced to operate under. He says the camera system has
02:50collapsed and contraband is being tossed into the facility over the walls
02:54from connections in the streets as a result. He tells of stolen water pumps
03:00leaving prisons officers and inmates at the maximum security prison filling and
03:05carrying buckets of water all day. He adds that lighting and visibility have
03:12also been compromised. I went on a search in MSP in December and if I
03:21know you and you are 15 feet away from me, I cannot make you out and officers
03:26working in those conditions and it's not only one division, it's several divisions
03:32like that and today it hasn't been fixed and the generator, if the
03:38electricity goes, gates opening on its own, everything shut down and we don't
03:43have a functioning generator. Up to today a prison with 1,800 inmates. He also
03:49reveals that due to the unhealthy conditions there exists a sick leave
03:55problem among officers. We have things like tuberculosis, that is rampant in
04:02Port of Spain, it has been there. I would have taken an inmate, the inmate collapsed
04:0926 years old. We thought he had some cancer or some kind of thing.
04:14Before long he couldn't walk and they were doing tests on him. We carried him to
04:20St. James in the cancer place only to find out his TB had. The General
04:27Secretary tells us in 2024 the lives of 25 active prison officers were lost due
04:34to various ailments. Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
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