Former Compol explains departure from prison job

Security procedures at Hattieville have been publicly scrutinized since the embarrassing arrest of former prison official Oscar Puga, who was charged after police found him heading into Belize City late at night with three prisoners in his vehicle. In the fallout from that incident, the prison’s managers from the Kolbe Foundation enlisted the help of former Commissioner of Police Carmen Zetina. However, Zetina barely lasted two weeks in the post of Deputy Chief Executive Officer. This morning we caught up with the retired top cop and asked him why he left the prison job so soon.

Carmen Zetina, Left Job at Prison
“Well, it’s a matter of when you are strict. You cannot, you know, waffle around and just do what you have to do and that’s basically what happened.”

Janelle Chanona
“So you didn’t get that support from the management at Kolbe?”

Carmen Zetina
“Well I would say not to the extent that I wanted.”

Janelle Chanona
“Is there something … there is this persistent perception perhaps that there is something fishy going on in the way things are run. What would you say to the Belizean people?”

Carmen Zetina
“I can’t say nothing about that. You know, because for the time that I was there—just over little two weeks—I don’t think you can comment on that.”