President of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Anand Ramesar is calling for a commission of enquiry into last July’s prison break at the Port-of-Spain Prison.
Ramesar was responding to a Sunday Guardian exclusive which revealed that the Prison Service executive was aware of a possible plan about an escape at the Port-of-Spain Prison months before the incident.
This information was contained in the official minutes (copies of which are in the Guardian’s possession) of a meeting between top brass in the Prison Service in January 2015, at the Prisons Administration Building in Port-of-Spain.
During the jailbreak on July 24, Allan ‘Scanny’ Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher ‘Monster’ Selby, armed with guns and a grenade, bolted from the prison.
Prisons officer Leon Rouse was shot and PC Sherman Maynard, who was stationed outside, was killed.
Martin was killed moments after the escape after he was cornered at a guard booth of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and Hassan Atwell was murdered in East Port-of-Spain one day later.
Selby, 30, surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station 48 hours after his escape. He was subsequently charged with ten offences including the murder of Maynard.
In a brief telephone interview, Ramesar said, “I am calling for a commission of enquiry into the prison break resulting in the death of officer Maynard. I want to say the revelation that there was information in relation to the prison break is very damning and it is wrong and perpetrated in the worst manner.”
He said a police officer lost his life and national security was compromised in ways that never should have occurred because the intelligence was available.
“Given the information now that there was intelligence, a question must be answered why policemen were placed outside without being advised about the full extent and the reason for their deployment, and the question must be answered about what was the strategic response should the information transform into a reality.
“It demonstrates a lack of proper analysis and risk management coming out of the intelligence. In the general scheme of things it is an inappropriate leadership response,” he said.
When contacted, Maynard’s relatives echoed a call for an investigation into the jail break.
A spokesperson for the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would like Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon to intervene.
“If they had intelligence that the prisoners were planning an escape let disciplinary action take place against the prison authorities and who were involved.
“Our relative was killed. If it happened in the Police Service where intelligence was passed and nothing was done action would be taken. They would be suspended. We calling on the Minister of National Security (Edmund Dillon) to do something,” the relative said.
Commenting on the newspaper article, president of the Prison Officers Association Ceron Richards said, “I am shocked and hope that it will be properly investigated that there was information prior to that daring escape.”
Richards said the information raised questions as to why steps and measures were not taken.
“If what we hearing is true then why the other agencies were not alerted? And why (junior) officers were not alerted? It means to say officers were left as sitting ducks,” he said.
Attempts to contact Dillon on the matter proved futile.