Prison reform has long been on the agenda of successive governments. Within the past seven decades, more then ten reports on prison reform have been completed, and hundreds of recommendations have been made.
The Wright Report (1945); the Garrat Report (1963); the Interim Report I (1973); the Interim Report II (1974); the Interim Report III (1975); the Memorandum on Remand Prison, Golden Grove Report (1977); the Abdulah Report (1980), the Task Force Report (2002), the Deosaran Report (2003), and the Inspector of Prisons Report (2012) have all suggested measures to improve horrific conditions at the Port-of-Spain Prison, Carerra Prison (which has been closed down) and Remand Prison at Golden Grove, Arouca.
However, successive governments have done little to implement the recommendations. The answers to many of the problems today lie within the pages of all of the reports and reviews that have been done over the years at great cost to taxpayers.
After a week of protests at Golden Grove following the murder of prisons officer Andy Rogers on November 7, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar appointed a Special Prisons Committee to probe the existing conditions at the facility. The committee’s report was submitted on Friday. The recommendations included a commission of enquiry into the criminal justice system. The committee said the system had “collapsed and is running on auto-pilot,” and it was thus critical to probe why it had reached to this stage.
The committee also advised, among other things, that the Government build a new remand facility within 18 months, implement full body scanners at prisons so all who enter would be searched, and provide clothing for accused who are on remand.
Govts reluctant to initiate prison reform—Chance
Meanwhile, Wayne Chance, a former inmate who runs the Vision on Mission foundation for prisoners, said governments have been reluctant to initiate prison reform. “There is a political fear of implementing these recommendations because the public will see special treatment being given to prisoners, and politicians don’t want to be unpopular. The state of the prison has been sidelined in the past and only comes to the surface when a crisis arises,” Chance said.
“The Government must show political strength and ensure that the prison structure is strong to keep out criminal activities within the prison walls.” In years gone by, Chance said, poorly paid prisons officers accepted minimal bribes to carry in food, clothing and other items for incarcerated inmates. Today it has boomed into a lucrative contraband operation.
Guns, drugs, cigarettes and cell phones are sold by high-ranking prisoners whose relatives and close associates offer bribes to rogue prisons officers. The prisoners have rogue elements on every shift who give them special privileges in exchange for money, Chance said.
‘Weed out rogue officers’
Although regular seizures are made, the prisoners who control the trade are never caught because they are tipped off by the rogue officers. Law-abiding prisons officers live in fear, and because there is “big benefit” the prisons hierarchy turns a blind eye. “Prisons officers have been undermining the system because they profit from it, and it is high time that the rogue elements are weeded out,” Chance said.
He added that these rogue officers have made the prisons disruptive and ungovernable so that they can continue their illegal operations. On Friday, Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez labelled only five per cent of this country’s prisons officers as “crooked.” Speaking to reporters at the Noor Hassanali room in the Parliament chamber, Waterfront Complex, Port-of-Spain, Martinez said the majority of his staff were honest.
He said the issues recently raised in the prisons arise from the hard work of his honest officers who seek to rid the system of contraband, which makes its way into the prisons via relatives and friends.
New committee a waste of time, money—Volney
Former Justice minister, Herbert Volney, who pioneered prison reform under his tenure said appointing a Special Prisons Committee was a complete waste of time and money.
“The Government has done this to appease the population.” He said it was “total negligence by the Government in allowing this situation to get out of control.” Volney said overcrowding and undue delays in trials have exacerbated the problems. “There are prisoners languishing in the remand yard who have not committed the offence. They have been waiting for trials for years and their lives are being wasted for nothing. The State has a duty to protect the rights of citizens by providing them with trials within a reasonable time and without undue delay.
“This Government has done nothing to address those problems in the prisons,” Volney said.
Volney’s plans
Volney said when he was minister he had in place approvals for construction of four judicial centres, with 28 criminal courts in four areas—Trincity, Carlsen Field, Sangre Grande and Penal. However, he said “those plans have gone cold.” “I also put in place a new regime for pre-trial determination of cases with sufficient hearing schemes so people who should not be in remand will be released years before their time. “That has been shelved by the Government,” Volney said.
He also said the Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Act which was approved by Parliament two years ago has not come on stream to ease overcrowding. The proposed Parole Bill was ready to go to the legislative review committee since June 2012 “and that, too, was shelved,” Volney added.
‘Officers fighting for their health and safety’
During his Labour day message last June, former president of the Prisons Officers Association, Rajkumar Ramroop called on the Government to set up and monitor cellphone jammers, scanners and surveillance cameras in prison. “Millions of dollars have been spent on equipment, but prisons officers have tampered with cellphone jammers and scanners to protect the underground trade. We need to have continuous monitoring of the technology by an independent party to rid the prisons of contraband activities,” Ramroop said.
He suggested prisons officers must be searched before entering the prisons as it was customary for officers to transport contraband for inmates. He said there was no searching of the under carriages of vehicles. Ramroop said all inmates must be exposed to rehabilitative programmes.
Ceron Richards, the new president of the Prisons Officer Association which represents over 1,800 prisons officers, said several recommendations have been forwarded to the Government to deal with the crisis at the prisons. He said these could not be divulged for security reasons. He said officers were fighting for their health and safety behind the prisons walls.
Govt has plans for overcrowding
During the recent St Joseph election campaign, Persad-Bissessar said Cabinet agreed to spend $3.2 million to retrofit buildings at Golden Grove to facilitate magisterial court sittings. She said the 40-foot pre-engineered, pre-fabricated buildings would improve prisoner safety and security at Remand Yard as well as improve overcrowding. Persad-Bissessar also said this would reduce security risks involved in prisoner transport and cut down on cost.
Between 2002 to 2009 the Government spent $98 million for the transportation of prisoners. —reporting by RADHICA SOOKRAJ