PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday promised everything possible will be done to protect prison officers and their families on the heels of the murders of two warders, including one who was gunned down as he held his daughter’s hand.

He also sought to assure that the State will not bow to prisoners and surrender the nation’s jails.

“We are very aware of the perils surrounding the duties of honest, hard-working prison officers and have taken note of the onslaught aimed at these officers of State. We will do everything possible to secure them and their families,” Rowley said in a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Office of the Prime Minister.

“It must be correctly assumed by all, that the Ministry of National Security will not surrender the nation’s prisons, and the State will continue without ceasing, to have Trinidad and Tobago remain a place where there is the rule of law and that there is adequate and effective law enforcement at every level so as to secure the peace and safety of all citizens.”

The most recent incident in which a prison officer was targeted was on Wednesday. A police officer was shot in El Dorado during an attempt on a female prison officer’s life.

However, Nigel Jones and Trevor Serrette did not survive the attacks against them, with Jones being gunned down on Monday afternoon and Serrette last Friday.

Jones was shot while at a taxi stand in Siparia, south-east of here. He was holding his three-year-old daughter’s hand as they waited for a taxi, when a car drove in front of them and an occupant shot him several times before the vehicle sped off.

Serrette was killed by a gunman at his fruit and vegetable stall in Valencia, in north-eastern Trinidad.

Prison Commissioner Dennis Pulchan has said he will leave no stone unturned in the quest to find those responsible for what is believed to be hits ordered from behind prison walls.

He said various arms of law enforcement, mobilised by National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, have started working together to protect the remaining prison officers also marked for death.

In an interview with Guardian Media, Pulchan said since July he has embarked on a project to crack down on gang warfare and narco-trafficking inside prison and he believes this has resulted in the all-out war against prison officers.

He said high-risk prisoners who were controlling the contraband trade were placed in a heavily guarded Wayne Jackson Building in the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca.

Thirteen officers stationed there have been named on a hit list. Jones and Serrette had both been assigned to that section.

Jones was the 27th prison officer to be murdered in the last 30 years.