Brown THE CASE in the Supreme Court involving the eight correctional officers (prison warders) who are challenging the Public Service Commission's handling of their disciplinary charges, was yesterday adjourned sine die.
Lawyers representing the eight warders, Richard Small and Wendell Wilkins, requested the adjournment. Justice David Pitter presided. Lackston Robinson, Senior Assistant Attorney-General, represented the Attorney-General.
Explaining the reasons for the request, Lambert Brown, vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union, said that prior to the court sitting, the Attorney-General had agreed to provide the union with a copy of the findings of the tribunal in terms of the earlier hearings involving the first five warders whose dismissal was recommended. The request for the findings was one of the main points of the warders' case against the Commission.
Mr. Brown said the union needs the findings to support the other major point of its case, that with the same tribunal hearing the cases against all 800 interdicted warders, it would be influenced by the findings of earlier determinations.
He said the findings were also required by the five warders, to support their appeal to the Governor-General against the recommendation by the tribunal that they be dismissed.
The eight warders involved in the Supreme Court case are from the St. Andrew Juvenile Remand Centre, Stony Hill. They were tried in absentia by the tribunal, appointed by the PSC, after they refused to participate in the proceedings. They are seeking an order of certiorari to quash the decision.
An injunction granted by the Supreme Court at the end of January, temporarily halted the hearings.
Some 800 warders were sent on interdiction (leave) with quarter pay in February 2000, after being accused of illegally demonstrating by way of a sick-out, against the re-appointment of Lt. Col. John Prescod as Commis-sioner of Corrections. The tribunal is made up of retired High Court Judge Avril McKain, former Police Commissioner Herman Ricketts and Eileen Biamby, retired Civil Servant.
