Workers at His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) – Antigua and Barbuda’s lone penal facility – are being called out for their perceived inaction, as prison officers continue to decry the conditions they are being forced to work in.
A small group of prison officers gathered outside the Coronation Road facility late last month bearing placards in demonstration of the poor sanitary conditions inside the jail, along with issues relating to compensation and lack of resources.
And while the handful of officers continuously shared their frustration with the lack of support and interest in their well-being by top government officials, several members of the public threw their support behind the group.
One such person is President of the Antigua and Barbuda Free Trade Union (ABFTU), Samuel James who, while speaking to this newsroom following the protest, urged the other members of staff to stand alongside their colleagues and demand justice.
“In terms of the other workers at the prison who failed to stand up with their colleagues who have gotten tired of those conditions, I want to send out this special appeal to you that if you don’t consider yourself to be human beings, and if you don’t consider yourself deserving of conditions that are befitting for human beings, at least take into account your family.
“Your family are human beings and you should want not to carry home diseases, bugs, amongst other things to them. So, for their sake, you should stand up with the other colleagues and demand that the conditions under which you work are not only fitting for human beings but fall in line with what the law speaks because you deserve it. It is a legal entitlement,” James said.
He also had a grim message for those presiding over the current conditions at HMP, warning that they could find themselves in the same predicament as the prison officers at some point in the future.
“The conditions are not fitting for the prisoners but the prisoners are human beings too, but today we are speaking on behalf of the workers at the prison. We are appealing and calling on the authorities don’t let the workers cry fall on deaf ears, because today it is the workers at the prison but some day some of you may end up in that same prison. Just remember that and certainly it will not be me or the Antigua and Barbuda Free Trade Union that will speak out that the conditions should be made better for you because the conditions are what you will deserve because you failed to fix it and so, you will also face those conditions if and when the time comes,” James added.
Public Safety Minister, Steadroy Benjamin – who has responsibility for HMP – has previously said that the government is aware of the issues raised by the prison staff, and assured that work is being done to address them incrementally.