A FORMER inmate at Carrera Prison has expressed deep concern about the handling of covid19 on the island and its demoralising impact on inmates, whose already limited freedoms, he said, have been further restricted.

The ex-prisoner was released from the island earlier this year, but remains involved in inmate rehabilitation and is frequently in touch with them. He asked not to be identified but freely relayed the inmates' concerns.

He painted a picture of prisoners being exposed to the virus, despite a complete dormitory lockdown.

"It's like solitary (confinement)," he told Newsday, saying it is unlike a regular quarantine, in which people can still enjoy certain privileges, like having contact with family.

"They are sleeping in fives and if one of the five get corona, which is happening (all must contract it)."

Around 26 inmates from Carrera are believed to be at the Couva hospital, and about 50 at the Claxton Bay step-down facility. Several other inmates were recently transferred from Carrera to the Golden Grove prison, he said, mostly because of a shortage of prison officers.

That leaves, he estimates, approximately 200 inmates in Carrera at present.

Earlier this month, Newsday reported that there were said to be some 34 covid19 cases on the island.

Inmates apparently view the prison authorities' handling of testing, quarantine and transfer of inmates as haphazard.

Insufficient testing

The former inmate, who last spoke with Newsday on Saturday, said, "Every two days they coming and testing and finding a man sick and they just taking out the sick man and leaving the rest of them without testing them.

"If five men sharing a (small space) and one man have covid, obviously the rest have covid," he said, even if they initially receive a negative result.

"There is no way they would not be in contact in those small cells. It's a total lock down."

He said there were 60 men in his dorm when he left Carrera.

"Right now it has about half that amount... Next dorm had about 40 and right now there are only have about 12 men remaining."

Newsday reached both Commissioner of Prisons Dennis Pulchan and president of the Prisons Officers Association Ceron Richards, both of whom said they were not willing to discuss the situation in the prisons.

Therefore it is unclear how many, if any, prison officers currently have the virus or are in quarantine.

Prison commissioner: No outbreak, a cluster

When Newsday spoke with Pulchan about the rise in cases in the prison earlier in August, he assured, "It is not an outbreak (but) a cluster."

Although Newsday has not been able to confirm exact numbers of inmates and officers with the virus or in quarantine, the former inmate said a batch of officers on duty at any one time has shrunk to between seven and ten, about half of whom he said are responsible for administrative duties, which means there is an inappropriate