- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 10/Jan 04:11

Commissioner: Gangs kept apart in prisons

Acting Prisons Commissioner Carlos Corraspe says that gangs are being kept apart as effectively as possible within the nation’s prisons following concerns raised by Gerard Gordon, president of the Prisons Officers Association, on January 7 regarding resource challenges. Corraspe spoke to Newsday by phone on January 9 and said a rigorous process for incoming inmates was followed. "We do our interviews when the inmates come. They give us their concerns of the people that would pose potential issues for them and then we separate them as best as we can across all of the prisons." He said the prison system relied on historical data and information from other law-enforcement agencies to ensure the accuracy of inmates' records before their allocation within the system. Newsday understands the process is not as simple as separating gang members by blocks, building or prisons, as most incoming inmates do not state they are gang-affiliated. In his statement on January 7, Gordon claimed the government had overseen the decline of the nation's prisons, which had a myriad of well-documented problems, now worsened by the state of emergency (SoE) implemented on December 30. "The nation's prisons are under-resourced, over-burdened and littered with infrastructural deficiencies. "Now in the SoE (they) expect to use the same decrepit institutions to hold and treat detainees and those arrested." During a press briefing on January 8 at the Police Administration Building, deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin gave data from the first ten days of the SoE. He said police had targeted 503 priority offenders and arrested 360 individuals. Up to day ten of the SoE, 143 people remained in custody. Newsday also understands that Building 13 of the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) in Arouca was raided on December 30 where over 20 illegal phones were seized. The said building was raided again on January 2, where over 20 illegal phones were found again. Newsday asked Corraspe what was being done to limit illegal items, specifically phones into the prison, he said, "We continue to engage our security apparatus. "Some of those items are brought in by officers who are not acting in the best interest of the prisons service. There are many instances when they are coming in through drones, as well." He said he had engaged the Ministry of National Security and gave long-term solutions to the problems, but admitted it would take time to materialise. "In the meantime we have some short-term solutions. We are doing our searches to discover what maybe is in the spaces (of the prison) and search officers... to reduce the influx." Prisoners don't have phone call entitlement Newsday also asked Corraspe if he believed there should be a method, specifically through the use of cell phones, for prisoners to communicate with their family members. He said, "Historically and by prison rules there is no entitlement for phone calls. Of course the prison rules are outdated as letters and visits are the entitlements." He said inmates can make phone calls, facilitated by the Welfare department, for those with families abroad as the other methods (letter and visits) would be difficult. "Over time as the prison numbers have increased, we have used the phone option to keep people in contact with their families through the Welfare department. "They make arrangements with the inmates to have these calls." He recalled a trial run of an inmate phone system at the MSP but noted that it had not been reimplemented owing to the lack of necessary approvals from the National Security Ministry. "So as it stands, by prison rules there is no entitlement to a phone call. We always have to balance to assist the inmates with the security requirements. It's a delicate balance." Corraspe also said there had been no change to the prison visitation policy since the start of the SoE. The post Commissioner: Gangs kept apart in prisons appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.