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Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander has confirmed the Port of Spain Prison will be decommissioned, describing the move as “a historic decision” that ends 268 years of operations at the facility.
He said the prison, built in 1757, has long been condemned by the courts as unfit for housing inmates. Alexander said the government decided it made no sense to continue paying millions in compensation to prisoners for breaches of their constitutional rights.
“This facility is an eyesore. When you come into Trinidad and Tobago and you go to the city, people take you to the prison, they often ask you, you have persons in there? And the answer is yes. Rather than continuing paying compensation to prisoners for breach of their constitutional rights by housing them in facilities that are sub-human and degrading, the government will save money and invest instead in a state-of-the-art prison facility modernised to assist in rehabilitation and restorative justice,” Alexander said at the post-Cabinet briefing.
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