Money Talks In Prison
MONEY is power in prison. That’s the word from an ex-convict who has just spent several months at the Georgetown Prison on Camp Street.
He told this paper that though the purchasing power of the dollar is very low in prison compared to what it is in the streets, brisk trading has developed in the cells with the Number One item on the most wanted list being ‘special food.”
He said that the regular menu is boiled fish (mostly Banga Mary) mashed and served with rice. This is eaten for lunch and dinner (the latter always served before 4 p.m.)
“Sometimes, once or twice per month fried fish or steamed greens are added to this menu,” the ex-prisoner noting, adding that for breakfast a “sugar water tea” or corn meal or rice porridge is served.
“For breakfast the ‘tea’ is preferred because the porridge causes terrible belly aches and diarrhoea,” he declared.
SPECIAL “The kitchen prisoners who work under the supervision of prison officers take rations from the daily stores allocation and cook special meals which is sold to the other prisoners.
“Although the price per plate varies according to what is prepared, the food is always popular among the prisoners,”, the source claimed.
And money also ‘talks’ if one prisoner has a grudge against another. “The more wealthy prisoners always get the better in these deals, because they can afford to pay some officers and other prisoners to beat the offending prisoner,” the ex-convict alleges.
He claimed also that prisoners who can afford it, can pay to stay in the prison infirmary “which is the cleanest and most comfortable place at the jail. The dormitory is infested with bugs,” he noted.
“Money flows in prison,” he said, “just last Christmas one prisoner was found with $870 in a cell.”
He alleged that the money enters the prison through some prison officers who go to the inmates’ homes and collect money from their relatives. “Half of the amount collected goes to the prisoner and the other half is pocketed by the officer,” he explained.
The source said the same is the case with cigarettes. “Some officers take cigarettes and ganja (marijuana) into the prison which they give to certain prisoners to sell for them,” he said, adding that sometimes inmates are forced to sell their cigarettes and three-quarters of the money is handed over to certain officers. The price is two cigarettes for a dollar, he noted.
The source said that if soap and other toiletries were not brought by relatives then they would have had to do without. Contrary to popular belief, he claims that the prison is well supplied with pharmaceuticals. However, these are hardly dispensed to patients, he said.
“Aspirins or panadol are what is given for almost all ailments,” he declared, pointing out that diarrhoea is the most common illness among inmates.
“What is most frightening is that some prisoners are equipped with razor blades (brought by relatives for them to shave) and surgical needles and blades. These they just pick up from dust bins where they are discarded,” he said.
He claimed that overall sanitation at the facility is poor with the toilets running over whenever it rains heavily.
When contacted for a response to these allegations, the office of the Permanent Secretary in the Home Affairs Ministry said the PS was in a meeting and would not be immediately available.