General secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, Gerard Gordon, yesterday admitted that some of his colleagues may have assisted in the escape of three remanded inmates from the Port-of-Spain prison on Friday afternoon.
However, he said, what was clear was that the true culprit was the sub-standard equipment officers were forced to work with. In a telephone interview with the Sunday Guardian yesterday, Gordon said, “Maybe some officers are to be blamed. But we have been asking for changes in rules so that rogue officers can be immediately dismissed.
“What I am saying is it is not now that the association has been clamouring for certain things because the prison is overburdened and under-supported.”
On Friday, Christopher “Monster” Selby, 30, along with Allan ‘Scanny’ Martin, 42, and Hassan Atwell, 41, shot their way to freedom from the Port-of-Spain prison around 12.30 pm. Martin was shot dead at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s guard booth while Atwell and Selby remained on the run last night. Police said the men were considered armed and dangerous.
During the escape, PC Sherman Maynard, who was on sentry duty, was shot and killed.
Yesterday, police probing the case reportedly questioned nine prisons officers in connection with the breakout.
Apart from two 9mm handguns and a grenade with which the escapees were armed as they escaped, police reportedly found a pump action shotgun and two other handguns in a knapsack which Martin had on his back.
Investigators said the prisoners could not have escaped unless they had inside help, since it was impossible for them to have had access to such weaponry from on the inside.
Yesterday, Gordon said officers, in seeking to carry out their duties while being threatened, were forced to do what they should not, including moving inmates around without the proper restraints. He added that it was not about blaming the officers but the inadequate equipment they were forced to work with. He said he did not want to speak to Friday’s incident but generally the ills facing his officers.
Gordon said there was no room in the search area in the Frederick Street prison to conduct a proper search, adding that there could be a repeat of Friday’s jailbreak if nothing was done soon.
“We have found money hidden in fruit and we have asked for many things to help us. One was that inmates be uniformed and not be allowed to have their own clothes,” he said, adding that the current system and all its faults were just an enabler for more crime.
Gordon said as a result of attacks on prisons officers, two have been living at the Golden Grove Prison. He added that Friday’s escape was just a symptom of what the association had been highlighting but which remained unattended to by the relevant authorities for years.