Inmates will enjoy cable TV at new Trinidad prison

New $60 million facility to have dormitories instead of cells.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday March 2, 2012 – Prisoners at the Santa Rosa Prison in Trinidad will soon be watching the latest shows on cable television while serving out their sentences.

The prison which boasts of dormitories and not cells, will allow between 13 to 26 inmates to be housed in each dormitory at any one time, and give them the luxury of watching cable television.

This was confirmed by Commissioner of Prisons, Mr. Martin Martinez who described the move as necessary if speaking about rehabilitation and reform.

There are already televisions in Trinidadian prisons in Port-of-Spain and Carrera, but the Santa Rosa will be the first to have cable when prisoners are transferred.

The Trinidadian government spent almost $60 million to modify and lease the Santa Rosa facility, which sites on 16.32 acres of land, and is over 400, 000 square feet, to meet an urgent need for additional accommodation to house prisoners following last year’s State of Emergency.

However, at the time prisoners were evacuated because the roof was leaking. That roof has now been repaired and other rennovations carried out to the tune of $5 million.

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