PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – The execution chamber at the Port-of-Spain prison was cleaned over the weekend, a convicted murderer told the Express last weekend.
The trap door used in the hanging of convicted killers was also greased, the inmate, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation, said in a telephone interview Monday.
The chamber’s cleaning comes in the wake of repeated calls from Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner for the resumption of hangings.
There are approximately 35 convicted prisoners in the condemned section of the prison. However, only one of the convicted killers, Ronald John, is eligible to be hanged, prison sources said.
Prisons Commissioner John Rougier said the cleaning of the execution chamber and its mechanisms were routine. Prison authorities, he said, had not received any official information regarding the resumption of hangings.
“That is a normal exercise and every so often we undertake the cleaning-up of that. It has nothing to do with any plan or anything like that [to resume hangings]. If, God forbid, something has to happen [and an inmate is hanged] and there is some sort of mishap [while an inmate is being executed], or whatever it is, we don’t want to have that at all,” Rougier said during a telephone interview.
A level of silence prevailed over the condemned division of the State prison as the cleaning of the execution chamber took place, the prisoner told the Express.
“From all appearances, it looking like they really serious about this thing. They clean the trap and grease it, as well as the execution chamber, the meat board and the autopsy room on Saturday,” the condemned prisoner said.
Then Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj spearheaded the hangings when the United National Congress was in government. There have been no hangings since 1999. (Trinidad Express)