Following a violent confrontation between prison officers and prisoners at the Remand Yard section of the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, last week, prisons officers have been staying away from work, inmates claimed yesterday.
They reached out to the T&T Guardian yesterday, claiming mostly junior officers, who are on a two-year probation, have been reporting for duty since the incident last week.
Sources said some of the senior officers not reporting for work included members of the “A Batch” who were involved in the confrontation with the prisoners.
Religious services have also not taken place since the fracas, prisoners claimed.
The inmates claimed that half of yesterday’s 1 pm to 1 pm shift turned up for duty. They claimed the superintendent and his assistant, along with the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, identified as Ramoutar, Phillip and Alexander respectively, have been supervising the recently passed out prison officers.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Prison Officers’ Association secretary Gerard Gordon said he was unaware of the situation, adding if there was mass absenteeism from seniors, forcing junior officers to work, they would still have to be supervised as they could not work on their own. He said he also had no confirmation that all religious activities had been cancelled.
But a prisons officer told the T&T Guardian that yesterday’s Jehovah’s Witness service, scheduled for the afternoon, was cancelled, along with the Seventh Day Adventist meeting scheduled for yesterday morning. All religious services have been temporarily suspended, the source said.
Since the incident officers of the Emergency Response Unit have been on standby and have taken up residence in the prisons officers’ lounge. The officers leave the lounge only when the prison is “closed for the day” and all inmates are in their cells.
Last Tuesday night, Muslim inmates at the Remand Yard said a group of mask-wearing, baton-wielding and shield-bearing prisons officers stormed a section of the prison predominantly housing Muslims and launched an unprovoked attack.
The following morning around 6 am, the inmates retaliated, resulting in five prison officers and five inmates being injured. During the night raid some 20 inmates were reportedly injured.