President of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards is calling on Justice Minister Emmanuel George to leave what he describes as politicking out of prison affairs and instead address the safety concerns of his membership. Speaking with reporters on Friday, one day after George addressed the media at a post-Cabinet briefing in Port of Spain, Richards challenged the minister to present evidence of his statements. In other words, he’s presenting a scenario where there’s no reason for the officers to complain since his ministry has done all they can to appease the officers’ concerns about security,” Richards said. On Thursday, George outlined ten “actions taken in the interest of prison officers” by his ministry. Among them were safe houses for officers provided by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), the distribution of stabproof and bulletproof vests, the amendment of the Prisons Act, officers being successful in the granting of Firearm Users Licences (FULs), installation of cellphone jammers and upgrades at the nation’s prisons. The minister said there was no truth to claims made by Richards that none of the recommendations from the report of the Special Prisons Committee, chaired by Prof Ramesh Deosaran, have been implemented and their safety and security on and off duty was not being attended to. Adding it was also irresponsible of the minister to place in the public domain that 80 per cent of officers have received FULs, Richards said: “Eighty per cent of what? Of five officers. Those who face immediate threats are not armed. These FULs are given to senior officers and not those who are in close contact with the prison population. The minister is playing with figures.” On the issue of the HDC allocating homes to at-risk officers, Richards said his Association is yet to see any agreement reflecting this. He also questioned the Prisons Act, which George claimed was amended for more serious penalties for physical assault of prison officers. George had told the media there was an increase from $1,000 or imprisonment for six months to $10,000 and imprisonment for two years. Again, Richards called for evidence of this. “The minister will have to show us the evidence of this. We checked with the Parliament website and other legal resources and we only saw changes taking place in 2003, 2008 and 2010. He needs to let us know what year this was done because we can’t find it. He noted steps were currently being taken for the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OSHA) to inspect the prisons. Describing the Port of Spain prison as inhumane and one that could collapse at any time, Richards said the facility was over a century old and was a hazard to officers and prison inmates. [ via : Denyse Renne ]
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 01:40:00 +0000
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