Former Superintend of Prisons Mr. Franklyn “Weather Man” Dorset said Tuesday On Freedom Fm’s popular talk show ISSUES that recent claims by the newly appointed superintend Mr. Junie “Scrape” Hodge, that hundreds of contraband items put on display for the media two weeks ago were all discovered during a 21 day lockdown at HMP,were all false.
Mr. Dorset in an interview with Broadcaster/Talkshow host Juni Liburd said that some of the items that were on display are much older than his 12 year old son and were discovered in the prisoners cells before and during the seventeen years he was head of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP). Dorset termed the items collected as taken from his Office and that they were items that he readily identified..
He noted that he has no ill-will towards the new Superintend and “wish him well.” He also stated unequivocally that he was enjoying his forced retirement and was not bitter about that either. He added that he is enjoying his new profession as a taxi driver, but wanted the public to understand that he was speaking on the issue because of repeated calls by members of the public and embarrassed and offended prison officers for him to clear the air on the issue.
“I am not bitter about retiring. I heard the news item about the contraband on radio. Later I was showed photos of items claimed to be confiscated during the 21 days lock down by the new superintendent…Almost all of them, some 99% of them were collected over the years. It’s an absolute lie to say they were found in the 21 days shutdown. Its a blatant lie,” He said.
Immediately after the appointment of Mr. Hodge to the post on February 1, 2016, he announced the closure of the facility located on Cayon Street, Basseterre “to facilitate the transition and an audit.” Prisoners were denied visitation by family and friends. Despite an earlier announcement that attorneys for the inmates would be allowed to visit their clients, there are reports that some lawyers were denied that privilege.
Mr. Hodge was quoted as telling the media present at a press conference on Monday, February 22, that “as part of the closure for the 21 days, a number of searches were conducted by the Prison Emergency Response Team (P.E.R.T), led by Chief Officer Denzil Harris (a relative of Prime Minister Timothy Harris), and Sergeant Isaac.” He also credited the officers for “doing a good job.”
He claimed they found about 125 cellphones, simm cards, battery chargers, make shift weapons, 160 cigarette lighters, about eight pounds of marijuana and between two and a half to three pounds of tobacco and a small amount of crack cocaine. “The exercise in my opinion bear fruits so that we can be in a better position from here onwards as to how we govern the facility. The operation itself was done based on intelligence gathered by the officers,” Hodge told members of the local media. Hodge had said then that the massive haul raises suspicion of staff involvement in the smuggling of the items into the Prisons.
Alcohol in plastic bottles were thrown over the prison wall. Lighters and cell phones were found hidden in various items like mop heads, bed foam, rolls of toilet paper, the soles of shoes and wooden bed frames.
Batteries and foil were used to charge cell phones. Tobacco and approximately 8 lbs of marijuana and a small about of crack-cocaine were seized. Also seized were matches and wrappers used for smoking.
However in a response by Supt. Junie “Scrape “ Hodge to Tony Frederick on Wednesday morning as to whether he was present during the search for contraband items, Hodge indicated that he was NOT there but “trusted his prison officers” who did the search.