THE only female Prison Officer who has remained at the Georgetown Prison in recent times said on Wednesday that it is not a wise idea for female officers to work in the compound of the Camp Street prison.

June Lewis-Charles said in her 23 years working as a Prison Officer, she has been stationed at the Georgetown Prisons for 15 years and the level of disrespect toward female prison officers has notably risen.

She was testifying before the Commission of Inquiry into the Georgetown Prison riot.The CoI is being facilitated by Chairman Justice James Patterson, and Commissioner Merle Mendonca and former Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine.

The prison officer said after the riot between March 2 and 4 at the jail, which left 17 remand prisoners dead, the nurses are afraid to go into the prison yard because of the threats directed towards them by prisoners.

Lewis-Charles said she is the only female officer who remained at the prison along with the nurses, and does not think it is wise to have female officers in that particular prison yard in which many prisoners disregard them.

“The kind of prisoners you have coming into the prison yard; they are not respectable. I used to think it’s a wise idea, but after this incident, I don’t think it is a wise idea for female officers to be exposed in the prison yard.”

She said she believes the disrespect sprang from the fact that some officers gossip about others even in the presence of prisoners, while others participate actively in the smuggling of prohibited items into the jail.

“You are in an area dominated by prisoners; you have to be careful what you say,” she stated.

On March 4, she fell unconscious after a prisoner picked up and threw into her office a tear gas canister which was thrown by the police to control the prisoners who had gone out of control at the time.

After regaining consciousness, she had to climb on the roof of the prison kitchen to get to safety.

On March 3, the woman officer said she reported to work at 05:55 hrs and was briefed by shift supervisor Crawford that there had been a riot at the prison the night before. Around 10:52 hrs that same morning, Officer-in-Charge (OC) at Georgetown Prisons, Kevin Pilgrim, instructed the duty officer to open the Capital A dormitory, extract prisoners, remove mattresses which were damaged in the fire and clean the building.

She said Cadette Officer Udistaire Holligan, Assistant Superintendent Hudson and other officers had started the process, and after prisoner Collis Collison was extracted, the March 3 riot began.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Prisons Nicklon Anthony Elliot said ever since the prison riot on March 3, he and all senior prison officers have been confined to Lot 12 Camp Street. He first left on April 15 and would visit his home only for additional clothing sometimes.
Elliot said bullying has been a major problem at the prison, with some of the more aggressive prisoners taking advantage on quiet ones.
He said some of the prisoners bully others into making contact with their families and requesting credit for their mobile phones.
He told the commission that civilians sometimes complain to prison authorities of prisoners calling their phones, demanding that they put credit into their mobile phones.
Prisoners obtain these numbers when other prisoners use their cellphones to contact their families, and would even call others pretending that they are calling from a cellphone company and that the company is involved in a promotion. In this way, they entice persons into putting credit in their phones.
He said officers after receiving complaints communicated with the prisoners and informed them that by doing that, they were doing a wrong.
Elliot said though prisoner Collis Collison is “quite difficult to get along with sometimes”, there are prisoners more troublesome than Collison and some who are normally well behaved.