Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe assures routine inspections are conducted across prison cells as part of ongoing efforts to intercept contraband and minimize the potential for internal disturbances.
His statement comes in response to a recent incident in which a man was captured on video hurling two bags over the perimeter wall of the Port of Spain Prison over the weekend.
00:00Speaking with TV6's Morning Edition on Monday, Commissioner Carraspe disclosed that authorities have not yet retrieved the contents of the bags thrown over the prison wall.
00:12However, he notes that the items smuggled in are often the same recurring type of contraband.
00:19The bags themselves were not located. They have been ferreted into the prison. But generally speaking, when we identify those bags, it is cell phones, cigarettes, marijuana, implements as well, sometimes knives.
00:34So it's a whole large amount of different items that could be located in any drop in those bags.
00:40But all of them are inimical to security at the prison, especially in relation to the protection and the safety of prison officers and, of course, the inmates.
00:52He acknowledged that although the individual responsible has been taken into custody, there remains a troubling awareness of potential complicity among certain officers.
01:03He was arrested on Saturday through the good work of the prison officers as well as the police and a coordinated attempt to ensure that it didn't happen again.
01:14We have noted, however, that there are officers who are complicit in assisting because, as I would have indicated in an interview I did sometime last week,
01:24that it is not so much just a matter of the item getting over the wall, but getting over the wall and having inmates having access to it are two different things.
01:34He further stated that routine patrols of the perimeter are carried out proactively in an effort to detill this type of activity.
01:43There are persons who might be there spotting as well so that, OK, if the police patrol is there, if we see anything looking as if it's going to create a challenge, don't do it now.
01:52But it's a small, if you look at the time frame, it's a one-minute opportunity simply to get there and throw the item over.
02:00So we continue to look at it in terms of our internal security as well externally.
02:06Commissioner Carraspe says, according to the law, the offence is punishable on summary conviction to a fine of $150,000 and five years' imprisonment
02:18or upon conviction on indictment to a fine of $300,000 and through imprisonment for seven years.
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