The Government is moving ahead with its efforts to ensure this country’s detention and correctional facilities attain an international rating.
To this end, a team led by National Security Minister Edmund Dillon conducted a tour of several of T&T’s prisons last Friday as they sought to get a first-hand view of the progress of ongoing construction projects at various facilities.
Accompanying Dillon was Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Faris Al- Rawi, Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Fitzgerald Hinds and acting Commissioner of Prisons Gerard Wilson.
Among the facilities they visited were the Prison Service’s Video Conferencing Facility, the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) and the Immigration Detention Centre.
The ministerial team was provided with an update regarding the significant work currently underway at the Video Conferencing Facility, Remand Yard, Golden Grove, Arouca.
Described as a cutting-edge structure which will enable court hearings via video link, this particular facility was said to be 70 per cent completed.
Officials said it would not only provide those remanded with greater access to their court matters, but also decrease the State’s transportation costs.
The tour also presented marked improvements at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Aripo, as the upgrade of the facility nears completion.
It is claimed that upon completion, this facility will satisfy international detention centre standards. During the visit, Dillon also took the opportunity to interact with the various stakeholders including prison officials, ECRC inmates and IDC detainees—in order to get an intimate understanding of their concerns and encounters in the penal and detention systems.
In addition, the AG also indicated plans were already in train to accelerate a comprehensive legislative package including updating the existing Prison Rules and other key pieces of legislation to treat with the safety and security of both prison officers and inmates.
Dillon also reaffirmed government’s commitment to the improvement of prison conditions and gave the assurance of the commencement and completion of other critical infrastructural upgrades, geared towards greater security conditions for prison officers, as well as creating a more humane environment for inmates and persons detained at the IDC.