Police have been called in to probe the disappearance of another set of keys at the Port-of-Spain Prison last week.
Prisons officers confirmed yesterday that the cell keys to the doors of all the cells at the prison had been missing since some time last week. Officers were put on alert after the keys were discovered missing and they subsequently locked down the prison. The keys were later discovered in the pants pocket of a prison guard’s uniform.
Contacted on the issue yesterday, assistant Commissioner of Prisons Dennis Pulchan confirmed the incident.
“It is a police matter and it is under investigation. I can’t comment on that,” he said.
No one was arrested in connection with the missing keys.
Arising out of the incident, however, a prison guard reported to police that his uniform, handbook, keys and an identification card were missing during a search of the prison.
The officer made the report at the Central Police Station in Port-of-Spain, claiming that his locker was among 17 lockers that were cut open in his absence as the prison was locked down and a search for missing keys was conducted.
This latest incident came less than a week after a prisons officer appeared in court charged with misbehaviour in public office in connection with another set of keys going missing at the prison.
Prisons officer Darron Ramlochan, 28, appeared in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court charged with the offence. Ramlochan was arrested after it was discovered the keys that opened the locks to the west wing of the Port-of-Spain Remand Yard had disappeared. He was granted bail of $80,000 bail and the matter was adjourned to July 1.
Prisons officers had been placed on high alert after the circulation of several voice notes on social media warning of a possible ISIS attack.
Prisons officials also remain fearful that there could be another jailbreak in light of the disappearance of two sets of keys.
The escape of prisoners Allan ‘Scanny’ Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher ‘Monster’ Selby from the facility last year is still fresh on their minds. Prisons Officer Leon Rouse was shot and PC Sherman Maynard was killed during that escape.
Attempts to contact Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart and Prison Service public relations officer Wendell Bompart were unsuccessful yesterday.