Chief Prison Officer arrested by the police

By Leroy Smith

A Chief Prison Officer attached to the Timehri Prison was today taken into custody by detectives of the Criminal Investigation Department at Brickdam, Georgetown.

A Chief Prison Officer, according to Prison standard, is equivalent to the rank of a police Inspector.

The News Room has learnt that the man’s arrest comes on the heels of a search at the very prisons earlier today during which a quantity of drugs and mobile phones were recovered.

Director of Prisons (ag), Gladwin Samuels today confirmed that a member of his staff was taken away by the police but he did not say if the man has been locked up or is likely to be charged with any offence.

However, according to information which the News Room received, the Chief Prison Officer, might have been facilitating smuggling of contraband into the prison  – an act which is prohibited by law and attracts a fine, and imprisonment if found guilty.

The name of the prison officer was not disclosed to the News Room by the Prison Director. We were told that the man might have been receiving financial rewards for passing the contraband into the prison.

It is unclear how many years of service he has with the Prison Service and who exactly has been paying him to smuggle the items into the prisoners.

Earlier today Samuels was quoted as saying, “prison staff took pay for the items to pass during a visit. The discovery has caused the owner much pain and he is talking about killing Prison officers. The Police are called in to investigate.”