THE shooting of a prisons officer outside the Golden Grove jail is an attack on the entire Prisons Service and this country’s national security as a whole.

So said Ceron Richards, public relations officer of the Prisons Officers Association (POA), in a telephone interview yesterday, in response to the Monday night shooting attack on prison officer Anthony Sinanan.

Sinanan, 25, a prisons officer for the past four years, was shot around 8.30 p.m., moments after he exited the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca.

He worked in the warrants section of the prison.

When Sinanan crossed Golden Grove Road, which is located in front of the prison, and was about to enter the nearby car park, a car pulled up alongside him.

A passenger exited the vehicle and opened fire. Sinanan tried to run away but was shot three times in his leg.

Sinanan was rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where he was listed in a stable condition up to last night.

Investigating officers are yet to determine an exact motive for the attack on Sinanan.

However, prison officials are working on the theory that the shooting may have been a hit ordered from behind bars.

When contacted yesterday about the shooting, Richards said the incident could have been avoided if certain measures requested by the association were implemented.

’Both the Minister of National Security and the prisons commissioner are delinquent; we have asked for security for our officers, both on- and off-duty, but nothing has been done,’ Richards said.

’If the State does not have the resources to protect us, then allow us the ability to protect ourselves, not guns for all officers but once there is a need, then provide them,’ Richards said.

Richards said closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the car park, which is also a demand from the association, could have caught the entire incident on tape and, therefore, aid the police in their investigations into the matter.

’Our requests are not unreasonable, but the response from the administration is unreasonable,’ Richards said.

’We are being driven closer and closer to a volatile point, and we have lost all faith in the current prisons commissioner,’ Richards said.