The three prison officers suspended as a result of the deadly prison break in 2015 will appear before a Disciplinary Tribunal to tell their sides of the story from next week.
Acting Superintendent of Prisons Wilbert Lovell is scheduled to testify before the Disciplinary Tribunal on July 6, while Prison Officers II Lancelot Duntin and Mervin Pierre are expected to testify on July 13 and 18 respectively.
Lovell, Duntin and Pierre have all been on suspension since August 2, 2015.
The suspension came following the deadly jailbreak which took place at the Port-of-Spain prison on July 24, 2015.
On July 24, 2015, Allan “Scanny” Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher “Monster” Selby shot their way out of the Port-of-Spain prison.
Police officer Sherman Maynard was killed during the incident while prison officer Leon Rouse was shot and wounded.
Martin was killed during the shoot-out with law enforcement, and Atwell was murdered after hiding out in Port-of-Spain.
Selby eventually surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station.
Duntin, along with Lovell and Pierre were suspended because of the incident.
A disciplinary tribunal has been appointed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to probe the conduct of the suspended officers.
According to the allegations against the officers, Lovell was in charge of the Port-of-Spain prison when the escape occurred.
Lovell, according to the charges laid, “failed to conduct himself in a manner so as not to bring discredit to the reputation of the Prison Service when having received information” that Atwell and Martin were to be part of an “evil enterprise” and should not have been allowed to attend the prison’s Visit Room together.
A statement from former LifeSport coordinator Rajaee Ali, who was an inmate at the Port-of-Spain prison, claimed he tried to warn the prison authorities of the escape.
Lovell is charged with failing to “act promptly and decisively on the information received”.
Duntin, who was in charge of visits at the Port-of-Spain prison, is also charged with failing to act “promptly and decisively”.
In Duntin’s statement he claims that a busy telephone line thwarted attempts that could have stopped the prison break.
On October 2, 2015, Assistant Commissioner of Prison Dennis Pulchan conducted an investigation as required by the Prison Service regulations and submitted a report to the Public Service Commission.
The PSC referred the matter to a disciplinary tribunal on August 16, last year, more than a year after the prison break.
On August 30, last year, the PSC decided that Pulchan followed the proper procedure during his investigation.
As a result of this, the members of the disciplinary tribunal were appointed on October 6, last year.
However, a week later, on October 13, a member of the tribunal resigned.
On December 6, 2016, the PSC cancelled the appointment of the entire tribunal and signalled its intention to appoint another one.
The matter was first called before the tribunal on February 16 but the prosecution requested an adjournment.
The matter was adjourned to March 27 and then again adjourned to May 25.