(Trinidad Guardian) – The trouble within the prison system escalated to another level on Tuesday, after a list of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of several prisons officers was found hidden inside the wall of a cell at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca.
The discovery was made by officers who were searching prisoners and their cells during a lockdown of the facility on Monday night. The lockdown came in response to several violent attacks on prisons officers in the wake of protest action taken by officers over the killing of one of their colleagues on November 7. Several prison officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the document as a “hit list” and said the discovery had left many of their colleagues fearing for their safety.
A source said the list contained personal information on both first and second division officers at the prison. Officers claimed Andy Rogers, the officer whose brutal murder on November 7 sparked protests from his colleagues, was among officers named on the list. Apart from the list, the officers also recovered a large haul of contraband items, including dozens of cellphones, phone chargers, a mobile broadband Internet hotspot, marijuana, cocaine, razor blades and other improvised weapons.
“This list was forwarded already via social media and e-mails on some of the cellphones found to several links in the criminal underworld,” a prison source claimed.
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has made several suggestions to help alleviate its members’ health and safety concerns, including allowing certain officers an opportunity to take their firearms home.
On Monday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the appointment of an eight-member committee chaired by Prof Ramesh Deosaran to investigate the officers and prisoners’ complaints. The committee held its first meeting on Tues-day. Contacted, president of the POA, Cerron Richards, refused to comment on the issue. “I don’t want to comment on that right now…I don’t know anything about that,” he said.
