By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterFOUR CORRECTIONAL officers have been sent on leave following investigations into reports that a small group was trafficking contraband into the Tower Street maximum security prison, downtown Kingston.
Major Richard Reece, head of the Correctional Services Department, said the officers have been suspended, pending further investigations into the matter.
"In one case, a member of staff was held with a brand new cellular phone, a quantity of ganja and a bottle of rum," Reece told The Gleaner.
Two years ago, the Government installed millions of dollars worth of equipment to block cellular calls made between prisoners and their cronies outside the institution. The jammers have not worked beyond the first few months and inmates can still make and receive calls.
Reports are that between last Thursday and Sunday, 33 cellular phones were seized at the prison which houses close to 1,700 inmates who went on hunger strike a week ago to press their demands for better conditions inside the institution.
Acting on intelligence, prison authorities raided the institution again yesterday, seizing a quantity of cellular phones, improvised jammers and ratchet knives. The searches were conducted by a special select group of warders. Major Reece said that the penal system now has its own intelligence unit which has been assisting in the seizure of contraband.
MASS PROTEST
Meantime, on Wednesday scores of spouses and relatives of inmates staged a mass protest outside the gates of the prison against the manner in which visitors were being processed. Reports are that a record 372 persons had registered to visit inmates at the facility.
Commissioner Reece believed the protest was fuelled by a group of correctional officers. The commissioner has since suspended visits until he has completed reviewing the guidelines relating to visits.
"We might resume the visiting sometime next week," he said.
The problems at the institution have prompted the commissioner to effect a number of changes. The former superintendent in charge of the prison, Gillette Ramsay, has since been replaced by Clarence Campbell. Additionally, prison warders have been prohibited from taking their personal cellular phones inside the institution.
