‘No unfair treatment, unsanitary state at Dodds’
Article by January 16, 2021
The top brass of the prison service and their boss, the home affairs minister, have flatly denied allegations of unsanitary conditions at HMP Dodds or unfair treatment of inmates.
Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams, Superintendent of Prisons Lieutenant Colonel John Nurse and acting Assistant Superintendent Major Cedric Proverbs all dismissed the “rumours” during a press conference at the prison Friday afternoon.
Since an outbreak of COVID-19 was confirmed at the start of the year, several social media posts have surfaced with prison officers and inmates alike complaining about conditions at the prison.
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Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds.
Superintendent of Prisons Lieutenant Colonel John Nurse disclosed yesterday that some of them had submitted sick certificates.
However, he said 70 officers, including himself, had returned to the job.
Nurse was giving an update during yesterday’s press conference on the situation since COVID-19 struck there two weeks ago, resulting in 240 male inmates and 72 staff testing positive for the virus.
The prison, which has an inmate population of 790, was being managed by a combination of forces, including the Barbados Defence Force and the police.
“A significant number of us tested negative twice and were eventually released. The vast majority of those persons have joined the working parties that we have here at the prison,” Nurse told the media.
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Major Cedric Proverbs, of the Barbados Defence Force, addressing yesterday’s press conference. He was called in to lead the prison for the 15 days Superintendent of Prisons Lieutenant Colonel John Nurse was in quarantine. (Picture by Lennox Devonish.) Social Share
Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds and instead saluted the on-the-job officers.
He commended the men and women in the midst of swirling reports about morale being low, threats of lawsuits and claims of prisoners on edge.
He said the mere fact that 70 of the officers who were in quarantine responded to the call of duty under the circumstances of an outbreak at the prison was testimony to the morale at the prison.
Union leader suggests BDF take control of jail
Article by January 1, 2021
Measures are in place to safeguard the integrity of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Dodds and inmates throughout a five-day period of testing and contact tracing after two Prison Officers tested positive for COVID-19.
But the outspoken trade unionist who represents unionised wardens, Senator Caswell Franklyn, has called for the imposition of martial law on the prison amid claims of growing unease among guards.
“My suggestion is that the best thing for them to do now is to declare a State of Emergency in that area and ask the Defence Force to man the prison because they don’t have enough officers even without the threat of the coronavirus.