The 28-year-old prisons officer accused of breaching prison regulations by taking home a set of keys for the cells of the Port-of-Spain State Prison has been released on $80,000 bail.
Darron Ramlochan, of O’Brien Trace, Biche, yesterday appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, charged with misbehaving in public office by “willfully refusing or deliberately omitting” to return the keys which he knowingly removed from the prison.
With his head bowed, Ramlochan stood silently in the prisoner’s dock as the charge was being read and was not called upon to plead as it was laid indictably.
In applying for bail, Ramlochan’s lawyer, Devish Narine, told Ayers-Caesar his client was married with two children and had no criminal record. Police prosecutors confirmed that and did not oppose bail.
As part of the conditions of his bail, Ayers-Caesar ordered him to surrender his passport and to report to police twice weekly for the duration of his case. He will reappear in court on July 1.
It is alleged that after leaving work last Thursday afternoon Ramlochan, a prisons officer since 2011, failed to sign out the keys to the prison and only when police allegedly searched the St Helena home of his in-laws were they recovered.
Police approached the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on Monday after taking statements from the officer’s relatives and co-workers and was given the all clear to lay the charge.
The T&T Guardian understands that since the incident, security measures at the over 200-year-old correctional facility on Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain, have been increased, including more frequent police patrols.
Prison officials maintained that while the keys were returned they were being cautious, especially since there had been rumours of an intended jailbreak following last year’s daring daylight breakout.
Last April there was an increase in security at the Port-of-Spain Prison after there was a rumour of an intended jailbreak.
Up to yesterday evening there was no word on if the locks at the prison had been changed.