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Senator wants prison probe

by dawneparris
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Trade unionist Senator Caswell Franklyn has called for a thorough investigation into operations at HMP Dodds, warning that there could be a repeat of the uprising that led to the destruction of the former Glendairy Prison.

He cautioned that while prisoners were relocated to the new jail in St Philip in October 2007, two-and-a-half years after the riot and fire at Glendairy in March 2005, some of the same issues that led to that insurrection still existed.

Franklyn, who is an industrial relations consultant to the Prison Officers Association, said: “Right now we need an investigation into what is happening in the prison, a complete investigation – more like a judicial enquiry into the operations of the prison, or we’re gonna have another Glendairy. Right now up there is ripe for insurrection. All kinds of things are happening up there.”

Identifying some of the issues, Senator Franklyn charged that both inmates and staff were being mistreated.

“We have created monsters from Glendairy and now we have taken them to Dodds and we’re going to have the same problems at the new place if we are not careful. You still have the same mentality running prisons, you’re still treating prisoners badly, you’re still treating officers badly,” he said, during debate in the Senate on Wednesday, on a resolution to vest the former Glendairy Prisons property in the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) for tourism development.

The Opposition Senator also highlighted the issue of prison officers working long shifts without the requisite pay.

He said while money had been approved to pay those workers overtime, it was not passed on and had instead been “used for other things”.

“You have prison officers working 12 hours…and ain’t paying them…. This is not right. They have to fix this,” he said.

According to Franklyn, there is also an excessive number of female prison officers at HMP Dodds.

He claimed there were just 29 female prisoners behind bars but more than 100 female prison officers.

Franklyn said that the prisoner who was shot trying to escape from Dodd’s last month had gotten away from a female prison officer who had been escorting him with no restraints. (DP)

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