Decades of unaddressed infrastructure failures have left both correctional officers and incarcerated people at Trinidad and Tobago’s Port of Spain Prison trapped in unacceptable living and working conditions, leading the national Prison Officers’ Association (POA) to publicly pressure the Ministry of Homeland Security to approve the purchase of critical replacement water pumps.
POA Public Secretary Lester Logie outlined the gravity of the crisis during an address to union members on Wednesday, urging the ministry’s permanent secretary to issue immediate authorization to acquire the three pumps the facility has lacked for an extended period. Without functioning pumping equipment, every section of the prison – from senior leadership offices to correctional officer dormitories and the facility’s Emergency Response Unit quarters – has been cut off from reliable running water.
Logie detailed the grim daily reality for people at the prison: correctional staff are forced to manually carry water to flush toilets and bathe, a burden that even extends to the superintendent’s own office. Incarcerated people face the same dehumanizing conditions, hauling water to their cells for hygiene and toilet use.
What makes the situation even more unacceptable, Logie argued, is that funding for the low-cost pumps already exists through revenue generated by the prison’s on-site commissary. The commissary, where family members purchase personal items for incarcerated people, generates consistent profits that Logie says should be allocated to improving core prison operations. He questioned where these accumulated profits have been diverted, noting that the small cost of three 3-horsepower pumps should not be an insurmountable barrier.
“We cannot have officers continuing to work in these conditions, making requests to the association for these types of basic items when there is an available source of funds that are clearly being used for other things that are not critical for the running of the prison,” Logie said. The union leader is now calling for a full public accounting of all commissary revenue, to ensure funds are directed toward the improvement of the Prison Service as they were intended.
The water crisis is not the only unaddressed hazard at the facility, Logie added. He revealed the prison recently faced a severe rat infestation in its ration storage room, but management took no action until the POA escalated the issue directly to the Minister of Homeland Security. Rather than prioritizing pest control to protect food supplies, Logie said prison leadership focused instead on disciplining officers who reported the problem, launching an investigation to identify which staff member shared information with the union.
Logie urged correctional officers to continue reporting unsafe working conditions to the union regardless of potential pushback from management, emphasizing that exposing these failures is the only path to reform. He has now called for direct intervention from Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to resolve the crisis.
As of Wednesday, repeated attempts by journalists to reach Minister Alexander and acting Commissioner of Prisons Carlos Corraspe for comment on the allegations went unanswered.