Following an increase in attacks against prison officers, president of the Prison Welfare Association Ceron Richards is calling on the Housing Development Corporation to allocate more houses to his men in low-risk communities in T&T.
During an interview with the media at a key distribution function held at Omardeen's Building in San Fernando yesterday, Richards said he was grateful that some officers were able to get units from HDC. However, he said many more prison officers remained hopeful that they too will get homes.
"For our members it is not just acquisition of homes but maintenance of security. For the average citizen a house is the largest asset they acquire but for us it means security of our lives. We are advocating for officers to come out of high-risk areas and lobby for allocations in different areas rather than concentrated crime areas," Richards explained.
"We hope that the HDC partners with us because prison officers are under attack and owing to the number of attacks in last few months we need some solution to safety and security."
Richards said there were under 2,500 prison officers across T&T and that HDC allocates ten per cent of homes to members of the Joint Protective Services.
However, Housing Minister Randall Mitchell said there was no intention of increasing the allocation to prison officers despite frequent attacks.
"We recognize there is a need to give homes to members of the Protective Services and there is mutual benefit for them to get a percentage of housing, but what about the nurses and public servants who go above and beyond the call of duty every day?"