Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez described the country's main prison as "madness" and a "hellhole." And he also tells officers that their work was not accepted by some sections of the national community. Martinez was addressing Friday's passing out exercise for 190 graduating officers at Golden Grove, Arouca.
Among those in the audience were Justice Minister Christlyn Moore. "Don't expect acceptance or much appreciation from certain sections of the public who remain numb and inconsiderate to the work that prisons officers do," he told his audience. He said if the inmate were to kill a prisons officer, some sections of the community would rejoice.
Martinez said if managing criminals were in the Olympics, police officers would be running the 100 metres and prisons officers would be running marathons. He said prisons officers went beyond the call of duty during the 1970 Black Power uprising and the aftermath of the 1990 coup attempt.
"Did John Public know that some prisons officers did not go home for weeks during the attempted coup in 1990? That they ate corned beef and biscuits for days??Did John Public really care that over 4,000 prisoners were kept quiet and under control during our darkest hours?"
Martinez said some see the value of prisons officers as only for a band to play at functions across the country, to do certain jobs with NGOs and private citizens. "It is my experience that if some of these organisations and citizens get an opportunity to say something good about the prisons, they'll either say nothing or castigate it in the vilest of terms." He said for some people it was a criminal act to allow a prison inmate to work at an officer's home.
Martinez said the salary paid to prisons officers "will never compensate them for the abuse and assault you will face for the madness that is the main prison at Port-of-Spain and the hellhole that is the Remand Prison."
Meanwhile, Moore said the Government was committed to making the required improvements in the Prison Service. She said a building was being constructed to allow female inmates to bond with their children. She also said a vessel to transport inmates, officers and others to Carrera was being acquired. Moore said the legislative changes required to improve the penal system was also being worked on by her Government.
She told officers that they should do all they could to ensure the false image by which they are portrayed in the media is changed.