on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the development has
resulted in a “Peter paying for Paul” situation, in
that the honest recruits are now being made to suffer with additional
training schedule, delay in them starting their career and in having
fingers unfairly pointed at them.
“The recruits are disenchanted at this stage; they are now
doing the same push-ups and other exercises everyday with no end
in sight,” the official stated.
“The place is tense and there is no motivation anymore.
“These drills should have been for passing out, but they have
no meaning now because no one is sure exactly when is the passing-out
date.”
Despite the development, no official word has been communicated
to the recruits, forcing them to be in the dark over their future,
it was revealed.
Disgusted over what some have described as “the contemptuous
treatment being meted out to us”, by the lack of official
word about their status, the majority of recruits have now embarked
on quiet protest action.
Each day they are going to work all dressed in the same colour as
their way of protesting the situation -- blue one day, red tomorrow,
black, then white the following day and so on.
The senior official who spoke to Mirror alleged: “A few of
the recruits cheated at the exam since they got the paper beforehand.
“Of course, somebody in the hierarchy of the prisons system
had to leak it to them, so the corruption is from the top.
“But you must note that the majority of the recruits and senior
officers are honest and dedicated and were not involved in the cheat.”
He continued: “The exam has been declared to have been tainted
and we have launched an investigation to find out the leak, even
though we have a pretty good idea of where it came from and who
were the recipients.
“I don’t even think those papers have been corrected.”
He admitted that the prisons’ authorities are considering
the idea of making the recruits write over the exam, even though
it may be unfair to the majority.
“That thought of writing over the exam is also stressing out
most of the recruits,” he stated.
“We are also considering using the results of the exams held
in October,” he further revealed.
“But then that would be unfair to the three or four persons
who were given warning letters for failing that October exam, and
who may have taken stock of themselves and honestly passed the December
exam.”
He admitted: “So it would be correct to say that we are in
a kind of monkey pants in this one.”
The official explained: “There are 104 recruits divided into
four squads, which makes about 26 recruits in each squad.
“They began training around August 2, 2005, and it was supposed
to last for between four and one-half to five months.
“After their final exams in December, they were supposed to
go out into the ‘fields’ and start gaining their practical
experience.
“Then they would have been carried through their final drills
for passing out late last year or sometime this month (January),
but all that has now changed because of the cheating fiasco.”
He added: “We suspect that an instructor or somebody in a
higher position, who has a relationship with a female recruit, may
have passed the paper to her and she would have passed it on to
one or two others.
“The names of big boys are being called.
“We know that the majority of our 11 instructors and 19 female
recruits are above board, so we are not really worried.
“It is just one or two bad eggs who want to give us a bad
name.
“In fact, from this batch, there are just about four who may
not have made the grade, and that includes the person or persons
who may have cheated.”
He continued: “It is a rule that a senior prisons officer
is not supposed to have a relationship with a recruit, but we are
aware that one or two recruits may have been sleeping around with
one or two senior officers, either for fun, for long-term commitment
or for the test papers.
“It is the test papers part that has caused the problems.”
The three and one-half hours exam consisted of about 25 subject
areas including prisons discipline, the condemned prisoners, the
normal main prison, reception, riots, use of force, how much force
to use, how to write a statement concerning different things, how
to treat an escapee, etc.
Mirror was told that every one of the 104 recruits was interviewed
on January 13 by a senior prisons officer.
“The interview session started in the morning and it didn’t
finish until after 6 p.m., which is way beyond their normal working
hours,” the source added.
“The interview was for the purpose of seeking to find out
what each recruit knew about the leak, although I think somebody
was just trying to show that he was doing his job because it may
have been a waste of time.
“I think it would have been more beneficial to focus on the
suspects, meaning the officers who leaked the papers and the recruits
who benefited.
“However, that was not to be and the first question each recruit
was asked was what was his (her) marks in the mid-term (October)
exam.
“Then they were asked if they were aware of the rumour that
the exam was tainted.
“Some said they heard the rumour, but the majority of those
in the so-called guilty squad answered no or don’t know to
the question.
“They were also asked if they heard the rumour that an instructor
was having sex with a female recruit.
“When one of the recruits, who the interviewer thought should
have heard the later rumour, answered no to that question, he retorted:
‘What happen, you working WASA or what’?”
This passing out is supposed to be the first since John Rougier
took over as Commissioner of Prisons last year.
“So you could say it has been a rough baptism for John, since
he means well,” the senior official added.
He noted that the development is also keeping back the other batch
of recruits who are waiting on the outside to begin training.
“And you must also remember that there is a shortage of prisons
officers,” the official added.
Communications Specialist of the Prisons, Sharon Ramsaran, remained
unavailable for comments up to Press time. |
