Home Affairs Minister rejects Dodds security breach claims

Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams has dismissed allegations that security at Dodds Prison has been compromised by a faulty generator, calling the claims “alarmist” and warning the public against misinformation.

He blamed the accusations on the Opposition Democratic Labour Party and urged Barbadians not to fall prey to misinformation.

Speaking to reporters after a workshop at the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, Abrahams blamed the DLP for circulating misleading information that suggested the prison’s operations were being hampered by a system failure.

“The prison is a massive facility with a number of working parts,” he said. “We regularly check and perform maintenance on all our operating systems, all the infrastructure of the prison. During one of those maintenance checks, we discovered that there was an issue with the generator’s alternator.”

According to Abrahams, the problem was identified before it became a crisis.

“Immediately, as we discovered that, we contacted the agents, TMR, to have that stripped down and replaced. It took a couple of days,” he said, adding that authorities attempted to find a temporary generator, but only one in Barbados matched the scale required to power the entire facility—and it was in active use.

“At no point in time was the security of the prison in doubt or compromised. All of the operations of the prison can be carried out manually. If the generator does not kick in or if the power is lost and the locks are not working, the locks can be opened manually. It’s not that there’s one person that can do it—there are three persons who are assigned to that, two of whom live in very close proximity to the prison and can get there immediately.”

He also insisted that inmate safety was not jeopardised by power outages.

“The prison is designed to be self-ventilating,” Abrahams said. “So it’s not that the electricity is going to go down and people are going to sweat and die.”

Override systems exist for all critical operations, including lighting, locking mechanisms, and communication, the minister added.

He said: “Even in the event of a loss of communications, we have a system where there are mobile phones on every block. Every department in the prison has a dedicated phone with sequential numbers. So if the internal communication is not working, you pick up the mobile phone and it can only call the other listed numbers.”

He warned against sensationalism and urged the Press and the public to verify information before spreading it.

Abrahams said: “Sometimes people hear a little bit of information and run with it, and the tendency now seems to be alarmist communication. Everything must become a big issue. This was not a case of something happening and then we discovered. It was regular maintenance that pointed this out.”

The home affairs minister defended the prison’s operational integrity: “We do our best to keep the prison running as best we can, but in every business, in every building, in every operation, at some point in time, things will fail. We have overridden measures for all of those.”

Abrahams also addressed a viral video claiming prisoners were having an alcohol-fuelled party, complete with high-end liquor such as premium scotch and brandy. He firmly debunked the video’s claims and provided an explanation of the incident.

“What transpired was that two of the inmates who are working in our agricultural section used the hand sanitiser from out of the chemical toilet and put it in their drink,” he said. “They took their cups with their juice and added hand sanitiser—that’s pure ethanol. The impact of that was immediate and pretty much intense.”

He said the inmates were promptly treated and admitted to what they had done: “There was no Johnnie Walker as was circulating, no Hennessy, no nothing. It was not a party. Some persons just did something unexpected.”

As a precaution, prison authorities have since removed hand sanitiser from chemical toilets.

Abrahams said: “A prison is a controlled environment. We still have to maintain standards. If COVID gets into the prison or somebody’s infected with something, it can spread in the population.”

He then urged against irresponsible reporting: “Don’t believe everything you hear. For the other persons out there who feel that they need to run with the story first to make an impact, to get the likes, to get the views, to get the following—we’re dealing with a national security institution.

“I would ask people not to be reckless with the news that they spread. Verify. Ask some questions. Get the correct answers. It is your right as a Bajan. It is not your right to keep spreading nonsense that we then have to respond to.” 

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb