A month after the State of Emergency Review Tribunal ruled that there was no justification for continuing to hold prisons supervisor Garth Guada, he is still being kept in custody, which, according to his attorney, Krystal Primus, violates due process and the very purpose of emergency powers.

Primus said the tribunal recommended on October 9 that Guada’s detention was unnecessary and should be discontinued. However, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander rejected the recommendation, insisting intelligence from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and Prison Service informed his decision to maintain the preventative detention order.

She said the minister “disagrees with the tribunal’s assessment,” even though the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2025, require detainees to be informed of the tribunal’s conclusion. Guada was not told of the decision within a reasonable time, she said, and remained at Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas, for more than a month after the tribunal issued its findings. He was reportedly moved from the military facility on November 5.