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PM ignores “old talk”, ready to fight prison cellphone use
Posted On 06 May 2013
Government to use technology to block cellphone calls and text message from prisons
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar stayed clear from any of the allegations of a ‘Cabal’ within the ruling UNC or any of the recent claims made by former Minister Jack Warner.
Instead the Prime Minister tonight told party supporters in Gasparillo at the party’s Monday Night Forum that she has no time for old talk adding that the fight against crime remains her Government’s priority.
Persad Bissessar announced tonight that as Chair of the National Security Council she will take action against the use of cellphones by prisoners behind police walls by use of technology.
Signal jammers
She said “The NSC has moved to implement mobile phone signals jammers. This technology can find phones and block calls as well as text messages from unapproved numbers within our prisons. We will cut them off, “declared the Prime Minister.
She noted a personal interaction with a young man who spoke of his experience when he recognised he had received a phone call from an inmate in Golden Grove Prison lasting 10 minutes.
She said “You would think when the courts put the criminals behind bars that would end the problem.
But far from it! It was not the first time I heard such a story but I told myself then, that enough is enough!”
She reminded her audience that the former PNM administration also faced the challenge. She said “Let me remind you of a frightening statistic that came from the former PNM National Security Minister, Martin Joseph. Joseph told the Senate in 2008 that there was an unprecedented amount of illegal cellphones being smuggled into Trinidad and Tobago prisons. He even quoted a figure – 1184 cell phones over a six-year period”.
Dismissing the PNM’s “non-action” in the situation the PM said “Well I say that was just PNM talk, as usual. These criminals are continuing to run their organisations from inside the jail by obstructing police investigations, and “calling shots on witnesses”, as the criminals like to say”.
Persad Bissessar said since illegal cell phones in prisons are amongst one of the largest public-safety risks to the nation she said “I, as Prime Minister, will put them out of business. The cell phone business in prisons will end. As I said before, the time for talk is over… and that includes the criminals behind bars. TALK DONE”.
it was good that the PM did not refer to all that old talk about cabal which party do not seems to have a so-called cabal , there are so much things can be done to help slow down crime I well come the move to jam cellphone signals in prison the Prison Officers have been calling for such a move a longtime now , good one !!!
WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR FOOT SOLDIERS WE NEVER KNOW WHEN WE WILL NEED THEM AGAIN THIS A PLIGHT FROM ST ANNS EAST VERNA LEFT 11 PERSONS WORKED IN THE ELECTIONS DID NOT GET PAID TO DATE COP GIVEN THE SEAT FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS OVER 70 PERSONS NOT YET PAID WE WILL NEED THE SERVICES OF THESE PEOPLE AGAIN PROMISES MY BY THE PARTY THAT ALL SCREENED CANDIDATES WILL BE MADE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT UP TO DATE NOTHING NOW TREATED LIKE I AM A PNM THE PARTY NEEDS TO PUT A TEAM IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH MATTERS LIKE THESE I WROTE THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE ON THIS MATTER AND EVENTS THAT AFFECTED US BEFOR WAITING AND WATCHING!