A high-stakes scandal has rocked the Trinidad and Tobago prison system, resulting in the immediate suspension of the nation’s top prisons commissioner and a second senior official over explosive allegations that a wealthy businessman held on charges of plotting to assassinate top government leaders was granted special, rule-breaking privileges not available to other detainees.
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander has publicly confirmed the disciplinary action, confirming that Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe and the unnamed senior official were placed on paid administrative leave after a formal complaint was filed by the country’s Prison Officers Association (POA). The allegations, laid out in a detailed letter dated to last Friday from POA General Secretary Lester Logie, center on Dominic Hadeed, a 52-year-old businessman currently detained under a Preventive Detention Order (PDO) at the Golden Grove Prison over accusations he conspired to kill Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior government officials to destabilize the nation.
Logie’s letter, which was copied directly to both the prime minister and Alexander, outlines a litany of unauthorized privileges that multiple uniformed prison officers witnessed Hadeed receiving, in direct violation of longstanding security protocols for detainees held under preventive detention. Among the most notable of the unapproved benefits was access to watch 2026 FIFA World Cup football matches on television, a perk not extended to any other detainee held under the same type of detention order. Other privileges included private table visits that are not permitted for this category of detainee, unsupervised movement inside the Golden Grove Prison Administration Building, access to the facility’s outdoor airing yard after the mandatory 8:30 p.m. curfew, and the assignment of a full-time dedicated Prison Officer II solely to Hadeed.
The complaint also notes that Hadeed’s wife Genevieve, 42, who is also detained at the Golden Grove Women’s Prison on the same conspiracy charges, was spotted meeting with Hadeed inside the restricted administration building, a further breach of facility rules. Compounding the inequity, Logie pointed out that the reassignment of a Prison Officer II to Hadeed has left the death row unit at the Port of Spain Prison severely understaffed, despite the division’s critical operational needs. The letter also highlights a separate, contradictory case where another maximum security detainee was denied medically approved care by the commissioner’s office, reinforcing what Logie called a clear pattern of unequal treatment.
Beyond the fairness of the system, Logie emphasized that the preferential treatment has already created significant safety risks for frontline prison officers. Resentment over Hadeed’s special status has spiked tension among the general detainee population at the Golden Grove Remand Prison, where detainees have openly complained of discriminatory treatment. Logie revealed that this agitation has already escalated to direct threats against officer lives: one detainee told a senior superintendent he was arranging to have officers killed after observing the favorable treatment Hadeed received. Logie recalled past fatal attacks on officers that stemmed from perceptions of unfair treatment inside the facility, including the murder of a superintendent who refused to smuggle contraband into the prison for an inmate.
These unauthorized arrangements, Logie argued, undermine fundamental security protocols, erode public and detainee confidence in the fairness of the prison system, and expose all uniformed staff to unnecessary, avoidable risk. In his letter, Logie called for urgent corrective action: a formal commitment to equal treatment for all preventive detention detainees, strict re-enforcement of existing security rules around detainee movement, access and visits, and immediate action to correct the dangerous staffing imbalance at Port of Spain Prison’s death row division. The POA, he added, expects swift intervention to stop further erosion of institutional discipline and protect officers working under increasingly dangerous conditions.
Local news outlet the Express, which first broke the story, confirmed that within days of the letter being submitted, Corraspe and the second senior official were placed on immediate leave. When contacted by reporters for comment, Alexander confirmed he had reviewed the official complaint, adding that family members of other detainees had also submitted separate complaints about the unequal treatment. When reached by phone for comment, Corraspe declined to address the allegations or the disciplinary action, telling reporters only, “I have no comment to make concerning these matters, please.”
To contextualize the case, Dominic Hadeed, his wife Genevieve, and Genevieve’s 69-year-old maternal aunt Star Sabga were taken into custody in late June under emergency powers granted to the government. The PDOs authorizing their detainment, signed by Alexander, cite intelligence confirming the trio is part of an active conspiracy to murder senior government leaders and incite violent instability across the country. Genevieve Hadeed’s detention order specifically references public calls for the assassination of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar. The couple was arrested at their private residence in Westmoorings on June 24, while Sabga was taken into custody the following day and is currently being held alongside Genevieve at the Golden Grove Women’s Prison.