Security has been beefed up at the Port-of-Spain prison after the keys to all the doors at the facility went missing on Thursday night, acting National Security Minister Stuart Young has said.
Officers of both the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and the T&T Defence Force (TTDF) have reinforced security around the prison, Young said.
Young has called for the locks at the prison to be changed. The call for the locks to be changed was yesterday echoed by president of the Prison Officers’ Association Ceron Richards.
On Thursday night the keys to the prison went missing. They were eventually recovered late Friday afternoon.
A prisons officer is currently in police custody with respect to the investigations into the matter.
“I have been in communication with the Commissioner of Prisons, the acting Chief of Defence Staff, and the acting Commissioner of Police and I have confirmed for myself that the TTDF and the TTPS continue to have reinforced security around the prison,” Young told the Sunday Guardian when contacted yesterday.
Young said he was still awaiting a written report on the incident.
“The Government continues to monitor the situation very closely and to liaise with the law enforcement agencies to ensure that adequate security arrangements are in place,” he said.
Young said the law enforcement agencies continue to monitor the situation “very closely.”
Richards said it was a “grave concern” when keys to the prison go missing.
“All efforts to investigate the matter must be explored simply because we do not know the extent of the security breach given the fact that we have to look at it at its worst,” Richards said.
Richards said he has known of a few instances in the early 1990s when officers left the prison compound with the keys.
“But you cannot compare that time with now of course, and given the prevailing circumstances with regard to security within the prison environment we have to be very concerned now whenever a key is missing in prison. We have to be very, very concerned given the prevailing circumstances,” he said.
“It could very well mean that the whole security of the Port-of-Spain prison could have been compromised,” Richards said.
Richards said the changing of all the locks at the prison is the “worst case scenario.”
“It is always a very worrying and serious concern whenever we miss keys. That is a serious compromise inside the prison,” he said.
Richards said now was not the time for us to “second guess.”
On July 24 last year, 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. He was cornered at a guard booth at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, and 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 April there was an increase in security at the Port-of-Spain prison after there was a rumour of an intended jailbreak.