Acting Prison Commissioner Sterling Stewart has been summoned to appear before a High Court Judge today to give information about the failure of remand prisoners to attend court. For the past three days, operations at the nation’s courts have been crippled by the non-attendance of prisoners. Justice Malcolm Holdip issued the summons in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday after he was forced to adjourn the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial for a third successive day because of the absence of some of the 12 accused men.
“This is the third day the courts are being denied the presence of prisoners. I should not comment on what is in the public but we have been effectively shut down. We all want to do our work,” a seemingly frustrated Holdip said. Monday’s adjournment has been attributed to gridlock caused by nationwide police roadblock exercises. However, there was no explanation for the absence of the dozen men on Tuesday nor for yesterday’s situation where only eight of the accused men were brought to court.
Holdip said that he was informed that yesterday’s situation was caused by a shortage of prisons officers at the Port-of-Spain State Prison, who are responsible for handing over inmates to prisoner transport services officials to take to court. Besides the issue within the prisons, Holdip said he also observed that there was not a full complement of police officers from the Court and Process Branch yesterday at the Hall of Justice.
As a result, Holdip also opted to summon Senior Supt Kenneth Cordner, the head of that unit, to account for the situation in the court. While Holdip said he was not allowed to speculate as to the reason behind the issues affecting both institutions, lead state prosecutor Israel Khan, SC, suggested that it was part of an industrial relations strategy by police and prisons officers, who are currently locked in wage negotiations with the Chief Personnel Officer.
“It is no coincidence and common sense will tell us that this is some sort of industrial action being taken. The judiciary has come to a standstill. What do we do?” Khan said. Khan’s view was supported by defence attorney Wayne Sturge, who called upon Holdip to also summon the heads of the Police Service and Social Welfare Association and the Prison Officers Association. “This is clearly industrial action. It doesn’t take an ounce of common sense to know this. How come they are sick when negotiations are taking place?” Sturge said.
Holdip did not agree with Sturge’s call for additional summons to be issued as he said the two senior national security officials identified by him were best placed to apprise the court.
Association response
Contacted to comment on the situation on Tuesday, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, Gerald Gordon, did not confirm or deny that the prisoner transport issue was caused by his membership. Although he denied that his members were engaged in work-to-rule action, he admitted that they were “peeved” by the state of the negotiations.