(Trinidad Guardian) Prisons officer Fitzalbert Victor Jr knew his life was in danger and reported to his colleagues that he was being threatened by an inmate at one of the nation’s prisons.
In fact, it is now being discovered that Victor was one of 15 prisons officers who were on a prison hit list, and that a prisoner at Remand Yard, Port-of-Spain, where he was stationed, gave the orders to have him killed. The list, the T&T Guardian has been told, features prisons guards all assigned in northern Trinidad.
Victor, 32, was shot in the head and body by a man who jumped the wall to his home at Prizgar Lands, Laventille, and attacked him on Monday.
Hours after his death, National Security Edmund Dillon condemned the attack and members of the Prisons Officers Association immediately held a press conference, in which they claimed that the State had failed to put adequate measures in place. The officers had made constant calls for extra security and other measures, for guards whose lives were being threatened by criminals behind bars.
In a brief interview yesterday, prisons officers who knew Victor closely but did not want to be identified for fear of being targeted themselves, said the slain man had told them there had been several threats made against his life by one particular inmate.
They said Victor, believing his life to be in great danger, had asked to be transferred to another section of the prison following the threats, which he deemed to be very serious. Prison officers said the threat on Victor’s life came from behind prison walls and a member of a popular gang was behind it.
This officers said, however, while a Remand Yard prisoner ordered the hit, it seemed to have also been co-ordinated by an inmate at another prison. The night before Victor was killed, another prisons officer’s house along the East/West Corridor was shot up by gunmen.
Up until late yesterday, prisons officers said their information was that a member of the “Rastacity” gang had been contracted to carry out the hit on Victor. They said the situation within the prison system was now tense since they are aware there are also plans to assassinate other prisons officers.
They noted that things were so desperate that some of their colleagues had resorted to contracting “bandits” from their communities as security guards to watch their homes.
Yesterday, prisons officers continued to pay tribute to Victor, saying he was “straightforward and a man who would not tolerate stupidness.”
However, prisons officers also said they were now of the belief that “it was only a matter of time before the rest get lick down.”
Grieving colleagues have taken to social media to express their disgust and disappointment.
Two previous attempts on life
Contacted yesterday, Prisons Officers Association secretary Gerard Gordon confirmed they had been notified of the threats on Victor’s life and noted there had been attempts to kill him before this week.
“He (Victor) wasn’t comfortable there and twice before they tried to kill him,” Gordon said.
He said, however, officers were past the stage of being angry as they were now very aware the officers were actively being targeted by the criminal elements with more frequency.
“We are hurt, disgusted and fed up. These feelings don’t go away. You living wondering who’s next,” he said.
Gordon said officers were not robots but human beings.
“We are under constant attack. It is a mental strain and we are under stress. Them fellas said they wanted to catch any of us in that area lapsing,” he added. He said his colleague now could not go out and live a normal life since they feared they would be gunned down in public.
“Plus you working in a stressful environment and tuberculosis rampant in the prison,” he said.
Attempts to contact Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart were unsuccessful as calls to his cellphone went unanswered and he did not return calls yesterday.
