Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart has come to the defence of his officers who were involved in a bloody fracas on Wednesday at the remand section of Golden Grove Prison.
He said necessary force had to be used by his men who came under attack “when they attempted on Tuesday night to sanitise the area of contraband items.”
He said when the officers went to prepare inmates for court on Wednesday morning they were attacked, leaving five officers and four prisoners injured.
He said too often when they conducted those random searches they were met with resistance.
However, he denied media reports which classified the situation as a “riot.” He summed it up as a “disturbance.”
“It was not a riot. It was a confrontation between prison officers and inmates and necessary force had to be used to safeguard both inmates and officers,” he said in an interview Thursday on Radio I95.5FM.
Thursday morning, he said, officers were once more in control of the environment and prisoners were fed and able to go to court on time.
Stewart said the remand section at Golden Grove was a volatile place and the overcrowding and length of time prisoners were kept there awaiting trial often caused eruptions and disturbances.
He said they were only able to maintain order because of the professionalism of his 300-plus staff who performed their duties with courage and because of the relationship they have developed with the inmates.
“But from time-to-time we have these eruptions and these disturbances because of the number of inmates and the length of time they are in the prison at remand.
“That causes a problem and a confrontation between staff and inmates,” he added.
Remand houses some 1,100 inmates, way above the numbers it was built for.
Stewart said approximately 35 per cent of that population had been convicted and was serving sentences while the other 65 was made up of people who have matters pending in the courts.
He said the number of inmates from the Muslim faith who were in the North Wing and Lower North Deep Wing was both a cause for concern and a challenge.
“However, we work together in less than ideal conditions to ensure the safety and security of all individuals are protected as much as possible,” he added.
He said on a daily basis the lives of officers were put at risks where officers were often threatened for performing their duties.
“I want to commend my officers for their continuous efforts and sacrifice at the risk of their own lives and for the tremendous job they are doing in less than ideal conditions,” he said.
He said a number of programmes were on the drawing board at the Ministry of Justice to reduce the number of inmates incarcerated, as well as to prepare some of them for reintegration, as law abiding citizens, back into society.
A number of security mechanisms were also being looked at, he said, to assist in safety and security and cleansing the environment of contraband items, such as cellphones, improvised weapons and drugs.
“We have already signed off on body scanners.
“Grabbers, jammers and CCTVs are to come.
“Soon, we will have special dogs which have been purchased to help in the fight against illegal and unauthorised items coming into that area,” Stewart said.