PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad– National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds Monday warned of a direct correlation between the crime surge in Trinidad and Tobago and what transpires behind prison walls.
In addition, acting Commissioner of Prisons, Deopersad Ramoutar, also noted that several people end up in prison due to what he termed a broken value system.
Speaking at a two-hour news conference, Hinds told reporters he had received information inmates were organizing criminal activities targeting individuals on the outside.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds during the news conference on Monday
“There are prison officers, who by the oaths they have taken and their morality and integrity and the regulation of the prison service and the police service who take the position we will not be a part of that, we will not comply with that, we will uphold the law and the constitution and the tenants of our duty.
“And there are cases where those prison officers have come under threat and have paid with their lives,” Hinds said, referring to an incident last year when prison officer, Nigel Jones, was gunned down in the presence of his three-year-old daughter.
Hinds said that the incident is a daily reminder to him of the troubling reality in the country, also dismissing calls by the Opposition for his resignation.
“You will remember on that day in Siparia, south of here, when he was there with his daughter doing things that a father ought to do, and you will remember the reaction of that child when the shots rang out, and she saw her father fall.
“Criminality of the highest extreme, and that’s because Jones, from all the information that I got from the prison and the police, was one of those officers who took the position he will do what he is supposed to do. He would not be complicitous; he would not let us down, and he would not let you down, Trinidad and Tobago.
“There are many people in this country who pretend to be true to theirs (oath) and appear to get away lightly so far,” he added.
Ramoutar told the news conference while many people in custody come from a broken home with a fractured value system, the situation continues while they are incarcerated.
“While prison can imprison their body, we’re yet to imprison their minds from continuing their criminal behavior and networking,” Ramoutar said, noting the mayhem associated with drugs and cell phones being allowed illegally into the prison system.
“There’s a small argument that cell phones provide family bonding and allow inmates to contact their families. It is a small argument because we have legitimate phones that the inmates can use. We have legitimate opportunities for visits between inmates and their families, virtual or physical. The larger benefit of the phones in the system is for criminals to continue their illicit trade…their extortion.”
He said there were inmates extorting citizens for various means, and some of their victims include attorneys and prison officers to the point that the prison system is recording complaints from attorneys that inmates are attempting to blackmail and extort them by threatening their lives, to get them to do certain things for the inmates.
Ramoutar said some of the people that fall prey to the extortion are the family members of first-time inmates and that when an inmate enters the prison for the first time, he’s naïve and is quickly befriended by the season criminals, given an illegal phone, and told he could use it contact his family.
“The inmate will contact his family members and explain what to bring. The extortion starts as now the criminal elements have their phone numbers. They (prisoners) would call them (family members) and persuade them to bring money for them through various channels, and if they didn’t, they would hurt their loved ones in prison. And that’s where the extortion lies.”
He said that at least 18 prison officers have been arrested over the past two years as they attempted to traffic drugs or contraband in prison.
“We have stepped up our surveillance. We’re working closely with the police service, and the Minister is giving us his support regarding the tools of the trade, his encouragement, and his motivation,” Ramoutar said.
Hinds, flanked by members of the security services in dismissing calls for his resignation, said once he had the support of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, he would continue doing his work to the best of his ability.
Trinidad and Tobago recorded 448 homicides last year, up from 399. At the end of April this year, the murder toll stood at 172
and then 