Scores of warders at the adult penal institution at Dodds, St Philip have drawn the ire of their boss after attending a pool party that included ex-inmates, a situation the chief claims breaches the Prison Act and affects their jobs.
Sources closely connected to the Barbados Prison Service (BPS) informed Barbados TODAY on Wednesday that as a result, Acting Superintendent DeCarlo Payne started issuing letters of potential disciplinary action to the estimated 40 officers who attended the party, but did not complete the distribution.
Investigations revealed that one of the two prison officers who organised the paid social event, went to collect her letter but was informed it had to be re-worded before she could get it.
The initial memo signed by Payne, a copy of which has been obtained by Barbados TODAY, directed the recipients to submit in writing the reasons for their actions which the correspondence indicated could impact their employment in the prison service.
“You are hereby directed to submit in writing to the Superintendent of Prisons (Ag), reasons for your actions which when examined, appear to be in contravention of those laws which govern your terms and conditions of employment within the Barbados Prison Service,” the document stated. The letter ended by ordering that “your statement should be submitted by Thursday, 15 July, 2022. Treat as urgent.”
In the one-and-a-half-page document, the prison boss told his officers that it had been brought to his attention that on June 26, 2022, they allegedly attended a planned and promoted social event at a guest house in Christ Church.
The memo continued, “It was further alleged that a number of ex-inmates attended the said event. While the staging of the event was harmless on the surface, the damaging and alarming factor was the presence of ex-prisoners at that same location,” the prison chief pointed out.
“Consequently, this alleged occurrence is in direct contravention of the laws relating to good prison governance and the code of ethics governing the public service,” Payne wrote.
He cited Section142 of the Prison Act Cap 168 which states: “A prison officer shall not knowingly communicate or associate with an ex-prisoner, or with the friends and relatives of a prisoner or ex-prisoner, except with the permission of the officer-in-charge.”
The prison boss also referred to the Public Service Act Cap 29, Schedule 2: 4d (d) which deals with ethical standards governing particular professions. He noted that 9 (1) says “Officers must conduct themselves in a manner that will ensure the efficient and effective discharge of their duties.” However, the issuance of the letters has equally angered many of the officers, who, according to another source with intimate knowledge of the situation, immediately reached out to their attorneys-at-law while others had reportedly planned to “sick out”. “He wanted persons to ask for permission to attend a party in their private life. So persons got really mad and some have written to their lawyers. The lawyers are supposed to be sending in letters. Another set has been planning to send in sick leave. To sick out on the prisons. So as a result of that, he got word of it and he called back the letters, but by the time he got to call back the letters, some of the officers had already gone on sick leave,” the source told Barbados TODAY. The source also said various ranks were represented at the event.
“And it was good to help build camaraderie among the staff,” the source disclosed.
“How are you going to stop somebody from attending a paid party?” one prison warder asked.
Persistent calls to the acting prison superintendent went unanswered.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
