By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
After it was reported that two prisoners had escaped from the Nevis prison last Saturday, persons began asking about security in the facility. This was not the first instance where inmates escaped and no explanation as to how they managed the feat was given by authorities.
The Observer asked the question: Is the Nevis prison facility a secure location?
CJ, Tabernacle – Well I think that the prison officers and guards are insufficient at this time. Also, the officers need to be trained in armed combat and weapons training. Sometimes they are carrying prisoners and they are out numbered and on top of that they carrying a baton. They need to have a weapon and they should be trained to use it. They are dealing with prisoners who are dangerous and if they going to bring the prisoners in the public they need to have enough officers to control the amount coming out.
Charles Walters, Mc Pennies – I think that not only are there not enough guards but they also need to work them more. They are relaxing too much and when they go out they lett their guard down and forget that they are dealing with prisoners. Sometimes these prisoners have tools for gardening such as machetes and so forth and they can be used as weapons at any time. They also need more guards when they’re bringing them out because most times I see one guard with at least ten prisoners.
One person is not equipped to keep an eye on ten men because one can distract him while the others slip away. I don’t mind when they give the prisoners a sense of freedom but they still need to have certain restrictions because I have seen them get away with a lot of things.
Joyer Webbe, Conaree – I think that the officers don’t realize the degree of the risk that they are taking and sometimes they are blind to their responsibilities. These officers are between rapists, murderers and thieves and none of these offenders are described in a positive way and that alone should raise a red flag. They should automatically realize that they need to be prepared for anything.
Virgil Williams, Mansion – I think that the prison security needs to beefed up. The prisoners always way ahead of the officers in terms of numbers. The officers also need to be trained. Some of them are hardened prisoners and you never can tell when something drastic might happen. Something needs to be done instead of waiting for something tragic to happen.
Coby O’ Loughlin, OTI – I think that they need more prison officers and sometimes they allow the prisoners to be the ones in control when they out in the public. They need to also be armed and trained to deal with situations that might occur such as prisoners trying to attack them. Sometimes I find that the only reason why the prisoners don’t attack when given the freedom is because they don’t want to make things worse for themselves and they know that they get to do some things that are not permissible and they don’t want to spoil it. What will happen when they have a prisoner who doesn’t care about these things and has nothing to lose. They can strike at any time.
