00:00As the Prisons Officers Association prepares for salary negotiations starting at 10% promised by the government,
00:08Association President Gerard Gordon warns that prisons have long been neglected.
00:13He tells us, over the last couple decades, prisons have generally been ignored until there is a crisis,
00:20citing situations like the state of emergency.
00:23Gordon adds that the focus and resources needed are rarely provided.
00:28And now the system faces a mass excellence of officers.
00:32He says many just waiting until the age of 50 to retire.
00:37We are the ones who continue to advocate and talk out and write, engage, always willing to meet, to share.
00:47But it is not, I never said that they don't know.
00:51I am saying that they don't care.
00:55I mean, it doesn't sound a thing, but that is the basic fact that we represent a part of the public service
01:08that really and truly they do not want to see us.
01:13He says the Association remains frustrated that despite years of sacrifice and officers lost on the job,
01:21basic needs continue to be neglected.
01:24The Association head says while they recently received five vehicles,
01:28including a water truck and a garbage compactor,
01:31critical resources like proper ambulances, tools, uniforms and lighting are still lacking at their operational facilities.
01:39If you were to take a pass in the night and you were to see what's going on around the maximum security prison,
01:48the place is black, it's dark.
01:51Imagine, you, you, a friend of mine called me and telling me,
01:54he said, but Gordon, all your man, no light around the prison or poor lighting,
02:00you can't even see.
02:03And that, those are just basic things.
02:05Meanwhile, General Secretary Lester Logie sought to highlight the desperate situation
02:12officers and inmates are facing at the Carrera Island prison.
02:16I would like the public to know the officers at Carrera.
02:21The badge has been dung for the past two months and we have to be using kegs
02:26filled at heart's cut.
02:30A person can't be running with that type of water.
02:35That, that is, that is total madness.
02:38And the officers at MSP, I mean, just yesterday officers said the only improvement you see
02:43is that they bring a chain and a padlock to padlock riot gates in 2025.
02:50When contacted via phone, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander gave the assurance
02:56to meet with the association to discuss and remedy the existing problems.
03:01The minister said this level of neglect took place under the former administration,
03:07but his government has promised to fix it, and fix it, it will.
03:11Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:20You're right.
03:30Don't you?
03:31Don't you bring it.
03:32Don't you bring it.
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