1 week ago
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Justice Carol Gobin - A remand prisoner held at the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force’s (TTDF) Teteron Barracks headquarters in Chaguaramas is claiming his detention there is unlawful and inhumane.
The Enterprise man, who faces multiple murder and firearm charges, filed a writ of habeas corpus before Justice Carol Gobin, seeking to have the prisons commissioner and Homeland Security Minister justify his continued confinement at Teteron.
The matter is expected to be heard next week.
Teteron Barracks was designated a prison in July 2025 under the state of emergency to accommodate high-risk and problematic inmates transferred from the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca. However, not all detainees there are held under Preventative Detention Orders (PDOs).
In his application, he detailed a series of prison transfers beginning in February 2023, when he was first charged with murder. He was successively housed at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, the Maximum Security Prison, the Golden Grove Prison’s “Guantanamo Bay” unit, and the Port of Spain Prison.
He alleges that on August 20, masked officers forcibly removed him from his cell at the Port of Spain Prison, blindfolded and zip-tied him, and transported him to an unknown location – later identified by other inmates as Teteron. He said no detention order was served on him at any point.
Attorney for the Commissioner of Prisons initially told his attorney that he was detained under a PDO. However, this statement was retracted, admitting no such order had been issued. The State has since confirmed that no PDO exists in his name.
The inmate’s affidavit describes harsh conditions at the Teteron facility, including confinement in a six-by-eight-foot cell with poor ventilation, limited access to water and sanitation, and inadequate food for his lactose intolerance. He said he sleeps on a bare mattress, spends most of the day locked in his cell, and has developed a skin fungus due to the environment.
He also claimed his access to legal counsel and family visits has been severely restricted, with virtual meetings monitored by prison staff. “Sometimes I feel so lost and hopeless,” he said, adding that the situation has taken a toll on his mental health and could prejudice his upcoming trials. He also contends that his detention at Teteron Barracks has interfered with his right to access the court and seek judicial protection.
He is awaiting trial for the 2023 murders of three men in Cunupia and a 2025 charge of conspiracy to murder.
He says he no longer gets regular visits from his mother, who would bring fresh fruit, bed sheets, towels and other items, including a mattress once, because he was sleeping on the ground while at the Port of Spain prison. His young son also cannot visit for Father’s Day or Christmas.
“This is humiliating and makes me feel like less of a human and a man.”
He also fears his detention at Teteron Barracks would negatively affect his two pending criminal matters if he is required to face a jury, since, if his detention becomes known, he will be viewed as a serious threat to society.
The prisoner is represented by Ravi Rajcoomar, SC, Ryan Rajcoomar, Alejandro Gocking and Enrique Singh.
In September, the Ministry of Homeland Security, in separate memos to the SoE review tribunal, denied complaints by detainees at Teteron Barracks about conditions at the army’s Chaguaramas base.
Former Chief of Defence Staff Air Vice Marshal Darryl Daniel and acting Prisons Commissioner Hayden Forde noted that the refurbished cells at the military facility were outfitted with bunks, a bathroom and ventilation. They said inmates there had access to daily medical services, meals and an adequate supply of water.
The tribunal had also admitted to Newsday that it was not mandated to investigate complaints about detention conditions.
English (US) ·