Cell­phones be­hind bars and con­tract killings or­dered by in­mates have plagued Trinidad and To­ba­go’s prison sys­tem. From chron­ic over­crowd­ing and poor in­fra­struc­ture to lim­it­ed re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion and staff short­ages, the prison sys­tem is break­ing down from with­in.

Just hours af­ter Gov­ern­ment in­tel­li­gence un­cov­ered a plot to as­sas­si­nate State of­fi­cials from with­in prison walls, for­mer pris­ons com­mis­sion­er Ger­ard Wil­son warned that cell­phone smug­gling re­mains the sys­tem’s biggest chal­lenge. As long as in­mates have ac­cess to mo­bile phones, no one is safe—not of­fi­cers, not ri­vals, not even high-rank­ing of­fi­cials.

“It al­ways hap­pens,” Wil­son said. “Once of­fend­ers get ac­cess to cell­phones, there will be con­stant com­mu­ni­ca­tion be­tween per­sons in­side and out­side of prison. And that is where the prob­lem lies.”