BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WHILE it may seem a good idea and an asset to employ an individual to assist in administrative duties free of cost, that decision may eventually prove to be disastrous to the person(s) who sanctioned it, especially if the employee were an inmate of a correctional facility.
This lesson was hard learnt by the administrative body of Her Majesty’s Prison in St. Kitts, where an inmate, who is back in his homeland after being exonerated of the charge laid against him, was given almost unlimited privilege that included visits to the office of the institution’s secretary.
The former inmate claimed that while in jail awaiting the hearing of his appeal, he was appointed assistant to the person in charge of the Prison’s Commissary (Cafeteria) and was tasked with the serving of meals and cleaning of certain sections of the prison.
This move by the administrators had provided the former inmate opportunities not only to repair and service the secretary’s and some Prison Officers’ computers, but also to view confidential documents which he forwarded to his email account.
Among those documents were warning letters to two officers; one for disobeying his superior instructions, using “oppressive conduct” against a certain prisoner and enticing another with a baton. This officer was advised to “seek anger management counselling”. The other was for failing to follow proper procedure which resulted in the escape of a prisoner on Thursday, August 16, 2012 whilst at the JNF Hospital. Additionally, this Senior Officer was chastised for “the use of inappropriate language” when conversing with his subordinates and also for disobeying his superior’s instructions, which was “an act of disrespect, disobedience and a challenge” to authority.
A letter was sent to another officer informing him of his transfer to the Nevis Prison Farm with effect from June 12, 2012 because of “complaints received from your supervisors in that you continue to operate contrary to instructions given to you, and that you are constantly harassing prisoners”. He was also transferred because of a pending criminal case with him and a remanded prisoner who, on his own request, was isolated “because of fears of intimidation, abuse or oppression”.
It is a known fact that in many prisons inmates are made trustees. These individuals are normally chosen to be trustees because of their better attitudes and willingness to work. They are used in minor indoor services such as cleaning maintenance (sweeping, mopping, trash removal), food service (preparation, cooking and serving) and working in the laundry under the direct supervision of an officer.
However, most of them are either serving life sentences or may possess abilities that could enhance the betterment of their fellow inmates in particular and the correctional facility as a whole.
But what was the reason for making a convicted prisoner from a foreign country who was awaiting the hearing of his appeal a trustee?
The answer, derived from discussions with the former inmate, is because of his academic qualifications and expert knowledge of computer programming and repairs.
“in addition to repairing a number of computers, I was tasked to build an IT system for the prison that they didn’t start to use during my period of incarceration,” the inmate said.
An obvious colossal error in decision-making!
In addition to the above mentioned letters, the former inmate has in his possession correspondences that were sent to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Homeland Security and the Director of the Department of Social and Community Development.
One of the correspondences to the Permanent Secretary spoke to a complaint from the Administrator of JNF General Hospital concerning an inmate who was being treated at the medical institution. This correspondence addressed a problem with a prisoner who was “being a nuisance to the Hospital by urinating in his cup and throwing the said urine on other Hospital patients”. As a result, the Administrator transferred him to the Cardin Home.
He also has documents that speak to the amount of monies lodged at the prison for inmates to make purchases at the Commissary; the prison staff and inmate population; Income and Expenditure Account of the Commissary; repairs to the officers office in Nevis and the multi-purpose office in St. Kitts that is used for lawyers’ visits, medical, counselling and for the Psychiatric Clinic; among others.
The former inmate has accused the administration of allowing certain inmates the use of communication devices.
“Certain inmates get iPods and MP3 players to listen to music, while others don't. The excuse officers give is that those inmates are members of the prison band. But I can assure you many others have,” the inmate said.
He claimed that a child rapist who is serving a 15-year sentence “is one of the most privileged inmates. He has access to walk up in the female department and no inmate can say anything to him. I find it scary that the prison gives a mental and obviously sick person such good treatment over other people. At some point when I started to get privilege he didn’t like it, since he felt threatened by me. He was afraid that I was taking his job, since he was helping with the store”.
The former inmate also claimed that a certain Prison Officer was “convicted in the US in the past for raping a minor and then extradited to SKN where he was given a job at HMP, where he later got a child with a female inmate that was born at HMP. This was hidden from the public”.
He further claimed that “Officers threat remands as guilty until proven innocent and can be quite bad to them. Once in a while it is understandable due to the remands’ behavior. Also, a lot of people sleep on the cold floor, and if you say something wrong accidentally the officers will lock you down for months”.
There are many more accusations that the inmate has levied upon some Prison Officers, which this media house has decided not to publicise.
The former inmate however stated that he intends to furnish other media houses with “the facts that I have”, but SKNVibes was his first choice because “I want Prime Minister Douglas and the Minister who is responsible for Security to be aware of what transpires behind those prison walls. I am certain that the Prime Minister will launch an investigation so that the atrocities would come to an end. And this includes an inquiry into the death of Mr. Glen Webbe”.
When contacted, the Superintendent of Prisons, Franklyn Dorset, told this publication that he has “no comment”.
However, three Prison Officers from the few spoken to and a local businessman, who was serving a one-month sentence whilst the former inmate was in prison, claimed that they were not in agreement with the privilege given to him.
“The white guy was very inquisitive! He was given too much privilege and he was always seen questioning different prisoners. I never trusted him! At one time I observed him putting something in a box and I informed a Prison Officer. When a check was made, they found that he had a small computer hidden in the box,” the businessman said.
The three Prison Officers confirmed most of the allegations made by the former inmate and were adamant that “he should have never had such privilege. This is the result of inferiority complex”.
