Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/6201/-1/140/
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NEW PRISON OFFICERS UNDERGO BASIC TRAINING COMMENTS ON PROBLEMS WITH PRISONERS
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While it is becoming increasingly challenging to deal with offenders now being incarcerated at Her Majesty’s Prison in Anguilla, an additional number of Prison Officers have taken up appointments in the service bringing the total to forty-five.
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Prison Superintendent Conrad Gumbs, Deputy Supt. Neville Hamilton and Raymond Grant
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Of that number, twelve newly-employed officers and three employees at the Probation Department have just completed a three-week basic course. The first two weeks of the course was conducted by Assistant Superintendent of Prison in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Raymond Grant.
Mr. Grant has been in the prison service in the Turks and Caicos for the past twelve years. He has a military background, has done various courses in several parts of the Caribbean and has been able to amass a great deal of experience.
Funded entirely by the British Government, it was originally designed to be a regional prison officers’ basic course to include participants from the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks & Caicos, but it was not possible for them to come to Anguilla at this time. The third week of the course was conducted by three of Anguilla’s top prison officers: Deputy Superintendent, Neville Hamilton, (Coordinator), Allister Richardson, Staff Officer/Trainer and Alric Smart, Control and Restraint Instructor.
Several other persons in the community also assisted with the course. They included Sharon Richardson of the Community College Development Unit who dealt with such topics as customer care, effective communications and ethics; Nurse Dana Ruan who
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The newly-employed and trained Prison Officers and others
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gave presentations on hygiene and sexually-transmitted diseases; and there was also a session on General Orders for the Civil Service conducted by a representative of the Department of Public Administration.
“Over the years we were not in a position to train our officers due to the limitation of staff, Mr. Hamilton told The Anguillian, “but we are fortunate now to have more than enough officers applying for jobs and available so that we can put on a basic grade course for officers before they take up their responsibilities.”
Superintendent of Prison, Conrad Gumbs, said it was the first time that officers had been trained before taking up their duties. He saw this as an effort by the prison management to move away from the antiquated system and to adopt a more professional approach to better equip officers. He stressed that with rehabilitation high on the agenda, there was a need for officers to be educated with respect to the human rights of prisoners and in accordance with the Anguilla Constitution and the Geneva Convention. He congratulated the successful applicants to fill the vacant posts for prison officers and offered them the very best in their training and new career.
While discussing matters relating to the course, reference was made to some aspects of prison conduct which were a source of discomfort to officers. Superintendent Conrad Gumbs, who is regarded as one of the most effective heads of the Prison Department, told The Anguillian that training was a vital matter in the administration of the prison in order to meet the growing challenges posed by prisoners. “Prison life, wherever you go, carries the same kind of problems in the cells especially when it comes to possession of drugs, cellular phones and prison-made weapons and members of the public are largely responsible for that,” he complained. “The prisoners themselves cannot get cellular phones and marijuana except they are supplied by persons from outside, even if it is a member of staff, so members of staff and the public should have integrity in support of law and order.”
Mr. Gumbs said it was not easy to run a prison given the problems involved, but he had taken much pleasure in being committed to the task. “My reason for doing this job is that I think it is the best area in which I can make a contribution to my country,” he said. “That is what gives me the passion and to see whether I can effect change in the lives of the prisoners whom I described as troubled young men.”
Mr. Hamilton commented: “It is indeed very stressful at times. With the environment you have now [in the prison] you really need people who are committed to the task. You cannot have half-hearted persons working in the prison. They must be trained, committed to the job and prepared to work 24 hours.”
Mr. Grant had the final comment. “You will never have a good prison system if you do not have the support of the public and that is the dilemma in the various islands. We are not getting enough community support and that can be very simple. Don’t throw things overt the fence. Don’t encourage conversations on cellular phones when you know that the person is calling from the prison. As is the case in Anguilla, we in the Turks and Caicos Islands are appealing to the public to support the prison system. The individuals are in there for having committed a crime. Don’t help them, to commit another crime as that only makes our job harder.”