In light of an expected meeting carded today with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and the Prisons Service, members of the Prisons Officers Association are apprehensive whether any of the initiatives will in fact be implemented as for several years pleas for a safer and more conducive environment have gone unheeded.
The association also warned that unless immediate measures were implemented more slayings like that of prisons superintendent David Millette would continue.
Millette, 50, was gunned down in the driveway of his home at Second Caledonia, Morvant, at around 8.30 am on Monday.
A statement from the Police Service yesterday said Millette was already seated in his car when he was approached by four men, two of whom opened from either side, killing him instantly.
He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the left side, upper body and head, leading investigators to describe the murder as “vicious” and “calculated.”
Speaking on CNC3’s Morning Brew yesterday, the association’s president, Ceron Richards, and general secretary Gerard Gordon warned that attacks, including that of planned “hits” from behind the prisons wall, would continue unless the authorities put concentrated efforts in place which officers have been requesting for some time.
“The boiling point is all around because when you look at the Judiciary and you look at the slow pace of justice, prisons conditions, safety and security... initiatives taken over the last decade it will give us a picture of a boiling point situation daily,” Richards said.
He added the reality was that prisons officers were targets simply because they were doing their jobs.
“We are at a point now where every officer is under threat. The fact that Mr Millette could have been on vacation and on vacation for a number of months speaks volumes.
“What we have recognised is crimes of opportunity... Mr Millette is not the first and based on what we have seen the politicians and administrators of the day dealing with the issues he is not going to be the last.
“And that is the gut-wrenching feeling because you know that at sometime you are going to get that call again,” Gordon said.
Don't jump to conclusions
However, prisons inspector Daniel Khan said conclusions ought not to be drawn, especially in the light of insufficient evidence.
“At this stage we cannot say whether the murder of the prisons officer is linked to his occupation.
“Certainly the officer had a dangerous job and one can draw the inference that because he works in an environment where there are criminals that it may be linked, but at this stage, I think that everyone should just hold their hand and wait for the report as obviously there will be some investigation into it," Khan added. The Judiciary, he added, had to be blamed as it had become a failure.
"The Judiciary has and each criminal division has failed. It has not delivered justice... because of delays which for many reasons known.
"I think it is about time we rethink the entire system," Khan added.