Point Blank: Golden Grove A “Hell Hole”

Retired Guard Paints Bleak Picture of Prison Conditions

By Winston Nugent

W. Nugent

Christmas night I went to the festival village in Frederiksted just for nostalgia’s sake. I wanted to meet some of my friends who I haven’t seen for quite some time. I remembered the days when the village was a place where you could go and meet long lost friends or those friends who had gone to the main land for school or for employment purposes. Many of them would return for the festival celebration, the food, and that cultural feeling that seems to come only once a year now. 

Well it so happened that I ran into one of my school mates. I was glad to see him, so we began to talk. It was a surprise when he told me that he was retired after serving twenty-five years as a prison guard at Golden Grove. My surprise was a result of the fact that we both are into our fifties and from my perspective, the idea of me retiring frightened me in the sense that it made me feel old. 

Another thing was, I had forgotten that this friend of mine, after graduating from high school had immediately went straight to work at Golden Grove, so adding one and one together, made me realized that, yes, indeed, he had the years to in fact retire. Time really flies! 

During our conversation I asked him, how was retirement treating him? “Man, “he said, “I am enjoying life now. No more headaches.”

“That’s good,” I said. “But tell me, why you retired so early. I thought, you had to serve some thirty years before you could retire from the government?”

“Not in my case. You forget we are classified under the banner of ‘hazardous duty.’”

“Oh, yes, you’re right,” I said.

“I glad I left though,” he said with a sigh of relief.

“Why,” I asked.

“Man, that place is a hell hole.”

“What you mean?”

“I mean the place is a disgrace; conditions over there are so bad, it’s depressing. I couldn’t stay there anymore. I feel sorry for the ones I left behind.” 

My friend’s facial expression was an expression that I have seen over and over on the faces of many correctional officers.  The conditions that he spoke of were nothing new. For quite some time now, correctional officers have been complaining of unbearable conditions at the Golden Grove prison facilities. I recalled in a public hearing at the Legislature on St. Croix regarding issues affecting the Golden Grave Adult Correctional Facility. The hearing was attended by several correctional officers including Attorney General, Vincent Frazer; Officer Vida Edwards; Shop Steward, Officer Russell Newton and Diane Prosper, Acting Warden. 

Many of the officers who testified said that the correctional facility has deteriorated and has been overlooked for years. They pointed to the fact that Golden Grove is under-staffed and operating daily at a dangerous level of safety for both staff and inmates. Moreover, officers have refused to continue the madness of putting their lives in danger. They also said that the continue breach in security on a daily basis is no longer safe for the officers, inmates and community. 

The officers further stated that they faced daily, the emotional stress of working in a dehumanizing facility and under a deaf hierarchy of political pawns. Furthermore, the facility has not had any major maintenance in the past twenty years in the old section and is now heading full force with the same behavior with the new section of the prison.  

They pointed out that many of the units don’t have window screens or louvers, unsanitary deplorable restrooms for officers, leaky roofs, no safety locks on the officer’s doors in case of emergencies, and some limited drinking water for staff. 

In their recommendation to the committee, the officers asked for the hiring of more that 100 correctional officers, a starting salary of $35,000 which will entice competent older individuals; hiring of doctors, nurses, case managers, social workers, physiologist, physiatrist, and civilians for certified classes in education and training. 

They also said they would like immediate infusion of equipment, bullet proof vest, and shank proof vest, ID’s for officers and other staff members; immediate notification of exposure to diseases, insurance of service weapons, gun belts and apparatus. 

Attorney General Frazer, who oversees the management of the facility, testified that he came to the hearing with “mixed feelings” because the issues affecting the Golden Grove Correctional Facility are so monumental that efforts in this regard appears to be insignificant in comparison. 

I looked at my friend and school mate and said:

“Let me buy you drink, man.”

“Sure,” he said, as we both walk towards a booth, for I realized that sympathy without relief is like mustard without beef.

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