BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORMER Superintendent of Prisons (SoP) Franklin Dorset has charged that current SoP Junie ‘Scrape’ Hodge is not being truthful about items claimed to have been found during the recent 21-day lockdown of Her Majesty’s Prison.
The lockdown took place from the beginning of February 2016 when Hodge was appointed. At the end of the lockdown, a press briefing was held where it was said that 125 cell phones, 160 lighters, several pounds of marijuana, alcohol and other items were discovered during a search operation conducted over that period.
Dorset, in an interview with SKNVibes, was adamant that Hodge’s statements are untrue because 99 percent of the phones were found years prior while he was the SoP.
“I have nothing against the gentleman. I wish him well because I know the job is a challenging one. Officers are disturbed, present officers and ex-officers. They are disturbed because they know that most of the phones, 99 percent of the phones, were phones that we had long tim
He explained that the items were confiscated during search operations conducted over a 12 to 14-year period and they were stored in his office or the armory. He said they were also used as training tools for recruits.
“We used them to train new officers, new recruits, because you would be aware that they (prisoners) have 24 hours to study the officers and see how to beat them and they would come up with various tricks.
“So we use, for instance, the roll on (deodorant). Sometimes the prisoners house lighters in them and use them as weapons. The toothpaste case is used to house marijuana and they use the washing soap and sweet soap to hide contraband. They use the thick draggers and cut them out and stick them back to bring in phones and other contraband. These are things that we not only train our prison officer recruits, but we also train the customs officers as well.”
Questioned if he would be seeking a retraction from Hodge pertaining to the statements he made, Dorset responded in the negative but declared that he is simply making the public aware of what the truth is.
“I want to believe that Junie doesn’t understand or maybe he misspoke or maybe he was advised to give the impression that he has done well. He made me to say he is a blatant liar. All I am saying is, to safeguard the integrity of the prison officers, those who were there during my time and after I left, it is an unfair statement to make because it is a blatant lie. I am saying the items that were found, 99 percent of them, were found before the 21 days lockdown. This is not a story, this is the truth.”
Dorset was SoP for many years until near mid-2015 when, according to him, he was sent on forced leave; a time of rest he indicated that he is enjoying. Between his departure and Hodge’s arrival, Asheila Connor acted as the SoP.
