New commissioner cleaning up Trinidad prisons
(Trinidad Guardian) An aggressive and hard-line approach has been taken to root out rogue officers within the prison system.
The man behind this is Acting Prisons Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar and he has been able to carry out his mission with the help of lawabiding prison officers who are voluntarily coming forward with information on their crooked colleagues as they fight the ongoing criminality and free flow of contraband within the prisons’ walls.
Ramoutar started confiscating millions of dollars in cellphones, marijuana, cigarettes, phone chargers, sim cards, razor blades and other paraphernalia some of which are being sneaked into the prisons by men and women under his charge. The estimated value of the items seized to date is over $2.5 million.
They have arrested two officers so far, while other arrests are imminent, he said.
Meanwhile, in the last two years, 18 officers were arrested for illegal activities within the prisons’ walls.
The acting commissioner said, “confidence and trust” have compelled the right-thinking officers to come forward and he has promised them his full support.
It’s all part of the cleanup exercise Ramoutar has started at the nation’s prisons since assuming office on February 25.
For Ramoutar, who has 33 years of experience under his belt, the lockdown, searches and seizures are the “start of things to come.”
In an interview at his office at the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca, on Friday, Ramoutar said he would leave no stone unturned as
he goes after these corrupt officers who have been bringing the organisation’s name into disrepute.
Last Monday, Ramoutar touched on the prisons’ thriving illicit trade at a press conference hosted by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and called on his officers to speak out if they see and know about any wrongdoing.
Luckily, Ramoutar’s call for action did not go in vain as several officers have stepped forward and willingly provided names of officers who they suspect are trafficking in prisons.
“While heading back to the office from the press conference over a dozen officers submitted names of traffickers (their colleagues) who they believe are crooked.”
The T&T Prison Service has also been receiving valuable tips through its hotline 800-7776.
Ramoutar began to shake down cells at Carrera, Golden Grove, Maximum Security, Portof-Spain, Remand and Women’s Prison, stating that the situation was growing out of hand.
Searches were also conducted at the Youth Training Centre, Wayne Jackson Building and the Eastern Correctional and
Rehabilitation Centre in the hunt for the unlawful items.
Most of the lockdowns were undertaken at Portof-Spain, Carrera and Maximum Security prisons.
At the press conference, he also spoke about an officer who was caught with two pounds of marijuana, 3,500 cigarettes and several cellphones while entering the prison under his watch.
223 cellphones confiscated
In the last ten weeks, Ramoutar said, there have been 291 searches and seizures.
“It was a teamwork effort...prison officers working together with the members of the T&T Police Service,” he added.
In the searches 223 cellphones, 9,159 cigarettes, and 14,041.8 grammes marijuana (seven to eight pounds) were seized. The cellphones were priced at $557,050. The marijuana had a street value of $702,009 while the cigarettes were estimated at $915,090.
Other items seized were 94 sim cards, 548 cellphone chargers, 67 phone batteries, 365 improvised weapons, 54 USB cables, 340 headsets, five knives, one triple-A battery, two hotplates, 836 razor blades, 268 cigarette lighters, 120 smoking devices, 1,727 wrapping paper, three calculators, one barbering machine, one fan, one plier, two and a half hacksaw blades, one screwdriver, one electric scale and ten memory cards. The lighters were valued at $13,400, sim cards $28,200, USB cables $5,400, cell phone chargers $164,040, phone batteries $13,400, headsets $3,400, electric scale $800 and wrapping paper $17,270.
A tabulation showed at least two-thirds of the confiscated items were estimated close to $2.5 million.