THE ACTING overseer in charge of security at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre, where seven wards of the state perished in a fire on May 22, has revealed that there were several security breaches at the facility and that searches were largely ineffective.

Joseph Small, who spoke in jumbled, incomplete sentences last Friday during a commission of enquiry into the tragedy, said he had read in a log at the St Ann facility that screws had been removed from the door of the office dormitory and replaced them. He also told the enquiry that reports in the log also mentioned that the wards were in possession of a screwdriver.

Escape plans

However, he said that did not cause him to believe there were larger security issues as a grille would have prevented the girls from leaving the dorm.

"For me, it would be a minor security issue," Small said of the missing screws. However, he said the actions of the girls led him to contemplate the possibility of escape plans, as he had to "expect any eventuality".

The acting overseer noted that while planning a general search of the dorm to find the screwdriver, a ward said she knew where it was and retrieved it, causing officials to cancel the search.

"That's what we were planning on doing because we got the intelligence of where it was," Small said.

He also said that lack of staff would have undermined search efforts.

"The complement of staff was not enough to do a general search," he explained.

When pressed by Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, an attorney-at-law representing the Office of the Children's Advocate, if a screwdriver could have been used as a weapon by wards, Small admitted that in that case it would have been "a significant breach of security".

He said the screwdriver could not remove the grilles but conceded that the girls could have acquired other implements to escape.

Recommendations ignored

Like his supervisor Fadyene Ferreira, Small noted that he had made recommendations for improvements at Armadale, but said those suggestions fell on deaf ears.

Small said he only had basic training in security and noted that he regularly inspected the buildings at Armadale, with emphasis on the grilles. He maintained that searches were conducted twice per month, but if there was information of an escape plot, they would be done more often.

Small said he received no information about escape plans prior to May 22.

The enquiry continues today at 10 a.m. when Small will resume his testimony at the Council of Voluntary Social Services - National Volunteer Centre in Kingston.

kimesha.walters@gleanerjm.com