The Prison Officers Association (POA), on their Facebook page, claim that only junior officers have been subjected to searches during the current state of emergency (SoE) and president of the POA Gerard Gordon is calling for all officers to undergo searches.
Gordon made the statement by telephone to Newsday on January 13.
He said the joint searches have been happening for a few days now, as the partnership between the police and prisons have been strengthening.
"The officers have no issue with being searched, but the type of search is the issue.
"We would have been clamouring for the longest time about what we were seeing in other jurisdictions internationally, (where) all officers are subjected to being searched and we not seeing that mirrored here. We have a serious issue with that!"
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On January 13, the POA Facebook page posted, "Is there an exemption during this SoE to not search senior officers? Junior officers reporting for duty are being searched by police inside the prison. Where is the equity? Are only junior officers suspicious of ill intent?"
Gordon claimed prison officers I and II and prison supervisors were the only ones currently being searched. Senior officers include prison superintendents.
Another newspaper reported that on January 11, an acting prison officer II was arrested after he was found trying to smuggle a cell phone and marijuana beneath a box of food.
Asked if he though that incident was the reason behind the searches being targeted to junior officers, Gordon said, "I don't think its targeted.
"The fact is that requirement for entry into the prison, is universal. You must be searched, you must subject yourself to be searched on entry. Whether you're an attorney, civilian, visitors or staff, you must be searched when entering the prison."
Gordon said since the start of the SoE, police have found themselves in the prisons more frequently doing searches.
"If you listen to them, they are leaving no stone unturned as it relates to this SoE and their attempt to bring crime and criminality under control."
Newsday contacted acting prison commissioner Carlos Corraspe by telephone on January 13 for a response to Gordon's claims.
He said, "I cannot speak to whether there is any validity. The fact is the searches are taking place at a point in the prison where people who access those locations are coming in walking. Senior officers normally drive onto the compound."
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Asked if it were mandatory for all officers entering the prison to be searched, he said, "It is not a question of being mandatory, this is an exercise being manned by the police in the context of the unlawful conduct of some officers who are bringing in unauthorised items into the prisons."
Corraspe said efforts to deter those officers acting unlawfully had been increased in an attempt to mitigate harm in public.
Pressed again to find out the validity that only junior officers were being searched, he repeated the efforts were meant to eliminate illegal items from entering the prison.
