Officer resigns from jail

| 05/12/2014

(CNS): A prison officer who was placed on required leave this week as a result of revelations that he had a criminal conviction which he had not declared has resigned. Although the prison has still not confirmed any details, CNS revealed yesterday that the guard is Ricardo Fisher from Jamaica, who was convicted of a sex offence in the US in 2009 and deported from New York State, where he was living at the time. He is listed as a registered sex offender there but he did not reveal this conviction to HMP Northward, where he was working as a guard. The prison concluded its investigation Friday and the officer was to be formally charged before he opted to quit.

In a short statement released Friday evening the prison said:

“Suspended Prison Officer suspected of providing false information on the application to the Prison Service has today resigned with immediate effect.  The investigation into the matter was completed today and the suspended officer was called in to be formerly charged under the Prison Officers Discipline Regulations (1999 Revision).  At that time, the officer opted to resign from his post.”

No one, however, has stated how the guard slipped through the background clearance or how he had obtained a police clearance certificate.  There has been no explanation about when he was recruited or under what circumstances and there has been no indication from the prison about efforts to tighten up its recruitment practise.

The officer was listed on a US website, which offers a quick and easy background search on any name for a catalogue of possible offences or infractions and takes seconds to do the search.

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  1. patricia bryan says:

    I said it once and I am saying it again; if a person is deemed to want to apply for Caymanian Status or Permanent Residence there is an interpol background check done on that individual. Well let me correct myself–there [used] to be interpol background checks done on individuals when they were applying for Caymanian Status and Permanent Residents back in the 1990s. Obviously this is not the same for persons applying for positions within our local government. Surely when our own local and citizens apply for same position every check is made into their backgrounds. It is such a disappointment and disgrace. I have a niece, daughter of my brother who died two years ago; she is still waiting fr updates on her Caymanian Status submitted almost a year ago…February coming. She is 20 years old. I have two minor nieces who had to go through way too much red tape to establish their status through this brother being their father. Yet we can have two (THAT we now know of) convicted criminals, adults, who joined our local law authority of government and slide right through with no problem. In saying this without prejudice or biasness to anyone, I don't know what it is about Jamaicans or Jamaica but there is almost always preferential and priority treatment with these nationals and applications to the two above mentioned Government Departments. Those two departments Prison (HRPS) and Police (RCIPS) service should and need to be revamped. There is just too many non-locals in these departments.

    We may not want to admit it but myobservations over the years are that the less local and born citizens being a part of our law enforcement departments, the inclrease in crimes to a degree, and lesstrust in our law enforcements and authorities. Our residents and citizens have alsobecome more hostile and agrressive and violent, due to this same contribution…recruiting violent and aggressive persons to be a part of the forces, which in turn creates defenses in our people.

  2. Anonymous says:

    I looked at the headline and thought, WOW,how progressive is Cayman, it is so safe, you can just resign when you are fed up with being in prison…then I woke up.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Results of the 2003 corruptions of the Cayman Islands we ain't seen nothing yet

  4. Anonymous says:

    NO. NO. NO. NO…you cant fire me!….I QUIT!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Resigning should not get him out of being formally charged.

    What does the government's HR department look like anyway?

  6. Anonymous says:

    His criminal record is in the USA and not Jamaica  so all he had to do was provide a clean record from Jamaica. So please stop saying that police records from Jamaica are bad because hie has NO RECORD there

    • Anonymous says:

      Ok, the records from Jamaica aren't bad.

    • WannabeBracca says:

      He was one of many Jamaican criminals sent back home from the US, UK, and Canada. So the Jamaican officials were very much aware that he had a criminal record.

      • Anonymous says:

        Being aware that he is a criminal in another country does NOT give him a record in his home country. I am in no way supporting that we keep this man or any one with a criminal record what I am saying is that he has NO criminal record in Jamaica so he could therefore provide a clean police record from that country, I know of a Caymanian who has served time (a few years) in an American jail and been sent back after serving their time and they get a clean Cayman police record to get work back in Cayman. That does not mean that Cayman gives bad or incorrect police records what it means is that that person has no criminal record in the Cayman Islands.

  7. Anonymous. says:

    People are being paid to produce false documents. It would be interesting if they could trace just where he got his background clearance from?

    • Anonymous says:

      Where else would he get his false document from? the corrupted authorities in Jam. You can bet your ass it wasnt the USA.

      Isnt that why many left that country…for better secured way of life. Many will tell you that. Others got too much sefish pride to admit it.  

  8. Anonymous says:

     IT'S VERY SIMPLE FOLKS, WE MAKE A LAW [retroactively of course] THAT SAYS!  "ANYONE" man or woman, husband or wife, or any person [18] eighteen or over having been found to have given false information on any application, be it for:  work-permits, marriage licenses, drivers license, church worker or pastor, appointments to any government board or authority,  or if "proven" to have committed any crime, such as rape, child molestation and/ or murder, on said documents, shall be subject to immediate deportation.

    This law shall apply to any and everyone who comes here to work! From  Attorney to Zealot.  Maybe then, just maybe! We will have started to take back control of our island once more.

    Oh! Almost forgot, all investigations in these matters will be done by a specially trained group of CAYMANIANS [including legal minds] who will conduct these investigations. These persons shall be selected and appointed after consultation with our district councils, which shall be in place prior to "The Law" being implemented. 

    • Anonymous says:

      What you describe is the law and pretty much always has been.

      • Fred the Piemaker says:

        Apart from the bit about specially trained (by whom) Caymanians, appointed by the district councils (superbly equipped to identify Caymanians with the requisite talents to sniff out the unrighteous, mainly the overriding one of knowing if the person is a born Caymanian).  Not sure whether the emphaisis on local wisdom to identify those who do not meet a social norm reminds me more of the Nazi's, the Cultural Revolution or the Khmer Rouge.  

  9. Anonymous says:

    We need to have a revoke system if he has papers here!

  10. Anonymous says:

    The other question how many more outside criminals we have on this island?

    • Anonymous says:

      The point is, how many Caymanians are guilty of similar crimes or worse?

  11. Anonymous says:

    How about that Sex Offender Registry for Cayman that Ms. Catron has been proposing? But I'm afraid if its ran by police it will not be handled properly.

    • Diogenes says:

      As opposed to being run by Ms Catron?

    • Anonymous says:

      Publicly accessible sex offender registers harm law enforcement and child protection.  The evidence is very clear on that.  But don't let fact get in the way of a gut feeling that something would be a good idea.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Darn. So who will be Employee of Month now?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Nice background checking ci govt!!!

  14. 4Cayman says:

    This is the proof in the pudding that our immigration services will allow any Johnny go lucky with a criminal record work and live amongst law abiding citizens. If he has status it should be immediately revoked! 

     

  15. Anonymous says:

    so tell me…… police checks obviously are not worth the paper they are written on right? whats the point of police checks if they didnt throw this offence up on the screen???

     

    canwe have a more rigerous international policecheckdone now ease? i could ave furher embrrassment

  16. Anonymous says:

    WHAT IS GOING ON ?????????

    is everybody is incompetent that they cant even do a proper back ground check ??

    i wonder how many criminal work for government or on the Island in general

    This is a shame !!!

  17. Anonymous says:

    How did heget a visa to come to Cayman in the first place?

  18. Anonymous says:

    A few years ago Government paid thousands of dollars for hand selected cronies to study for worthless Master's degrees in Human Resouce Management at a low tier univeristy from the UK. These hand picked cronies didn't have to have Bachelor's degrees which is unheard of in reputable master's degree programs. But certain Chief Officers at the time couldn't promote these underlings of theirs without advanced degrees. The whole program was a sham. Government paid thousands of dollars for their hand selected favorites to get worthless degrees and the university made thousands of dollars. This is now what we get for basically handing Master's degrees to people who otherwise would never have earned a Master's degree from reputable schools. HR managers are a joke!

    • Anonymous says:

      You are so right about his. Also in one of our littler Islands (not saying which) you had these uneducated civil servants do this so called Masters degree and they cheated by having someone in the  community do their papers for them. We all know who they are and who helped them.

      • Anonymous says:

        And worse we all know the Deans, who are currently still in charge, turned a blind eye. 

    • Anonymous says:

      Well a background check that can be done using Google search engine does not require a Masters degree. Good ole common sense would work just fine!

  19. C. Ebanks says:

    Oh my as I read this story, I wonder how many other expats living in this country have criminal pasts. Let me guess a whole lot more. Its a shame that Caymanians cant get jobs in there own country and have to leave to start a new life somewhere else like Uk and Usa. Gone are those days when be a Caymanian meant something. Today we are merely just like flies on an old piece of meat just trying to survive from day to day while the rich get richer in this country. Cayman is done, crime is at levels havent been seen before and nothing is being done to stop it.These islands are truly the islands time forgot. So so sad, rest peacefully Cayman ur done.

    • Anonymous says:

      Expats with criminal records…? Sure thing, Gov. Taylor just gave an MBE to his black tie dinner buddy without doing a back ground check.

  20. Bling Man says:

    He get to keep all his pay? 

  21. Anonymous says:

    Question as to how he got in here?  Just like many others who are here, they Lie and their Jamaican buddies lie for them.  You can pay for a clean police record in Jamaica no matter what you have done.

    Check all of the passports with those who have lived in USA before, they are Deportees no quesion about it.

     

  22. Too Much 4play says:

    No different than those in management with false degrees from dubious institutions back a yard

    The whole of Northward could use a good cleaning up including da obeah experts too?

    • Anonymous says:

      Try some of the PhD's at one of our Universities, FOI the degrees there and you will find degree mill PhD's pushing like a drug dealer how to get rich quick without really trying.

       A whole generation set up for disaster when competing with established universities so a few quacks can tout and repeat they have a PhD.

      Where I came from , you can tell you are talking to a PhD without them mentioning they have a PhD. Here, they have to repeat they are a PhD because after talking to any of them for more than 5  minutes, thier true lack of critical thinking starts to show, and they know it.  

    • Anonymous says:

      Definitely need to check all those working at Northward. HR needs to do reviews on all the staff, background checks and verification of the degrees they claim to have! 

  23. Anonymous says:

    Will he now be deported? Or since he has reisgned will he be able to ge work permit if someone is willing to submit it?

    No Jamaican is going to leave Cayman unless deported OR can go to another country and most countries willprobably have better checks than us and discover he was deported from the USA. I only pray that our laws allow fro better security than allowing him to stay here now.

    • Anonymous says:

      Of course he will get a work permit. As he has been here for more than 6 months he just has to get a clean certificate from the police here. They sell them for $25 dollars on Walkers Road. It is all very efficient. The agents are very professional and courteous. You do not even have to wait long for it and can get it same day. Immigration accept it as proof you are not, and never have been, a criminal. A wonderful system and a marvel of the western world. 

    • Anonymous says:

      i think cns we need to know this. is it possible that he resigned knowing that he was about to be charged and as a result deported but by resigning he might get to stay.

  24. Anonymous says:

    ALARMING!!! Imagine how many more imported criminals live among us. Status grants & all. As with conducting KYC & Due Diligence on clients in the financial industry so it should be for Every Expat worker whether employed in the private or public sector. BTW Immigration this also applies to profile scanners at the airport & harbour.  Soon we can say we are indeed the island time & people choose to forget

  25. Anonymous says:

    How can cns show and name him but can't do the damn same thing with the rest of the pervs??????? SMFH

    CNS: The local courts do not allow the media in Cayman to name sex offenders if their identity could lead to the identity of the victim. In this case the person in question is a registered offender in the US, where the situation is different and where offenders' identities are routinely made public and very easy to find … though it would appear not necessarily so for the local authorities.

    • Anonymous says:

      Got ya my apologies I understand the legal aspects of that and I shouldn’t have stated “cns” I should of stated the media in general but a victims privacy is important too especially when it comes to their recovery process.

      * thinking out loud * gots to shame their asses sick pervs beat them with sticks n stones ijs

  26. Anonymous says:

    Great! Now how did they miss this?

    • Anonymous says:

      What concerns me is now how many are out there that haven't gotten caught yet?  I also don't understand something else NWDA is screaming hire caymanians, hire caymanians, yet a person with a work permit gets fired from a company, letters go into immigration stating why, and guess what they do then…they grant the person another work permit in the same field to a different company.  The best is the company that hired this person doesn't even call for references..  How the hell does Immigrationgive "foreigners" continuous wok permits when they are FIRED from their first job???  This is something that needs to be addressed Mr. Miller.  I myself have experienced this as an employer…

      • Anonymous. says:

        Because some of you employers are bad-minded against employees and make up stories about them to Immigration. The board has no other choice but to hear two sides of a story and weigh the arising matters in a balance.  Why should they believe in the employers side, if let's say, the employee complains of sexual harassment, pension deductions, or unjust wage?  That expat wrongfully treated should be able to continue working in the Cayman Islands, and under an employer that will treat them with dignity.

    • Anonymous says:

      The same way they missed the cop my friend. Meanwhile we have two thousand upright Caymanians who can't find a job to feed their families…

      • Anonymous says:

        And 200 in jail. This islands custom and practices are the some of the most crooked in the world. 

  27. Anonymous says:

    Isn’t it a CRIME to lie on a govt application?
    No wonder frauds are to be found from UCCI to prison + police.

  28. Anonymous says:

    Is he not going to be prosecuted?

    • Anonymous says:

      No, of course not. The entire appearance of us having a legal system is a scam to placate the ignorant who actually believe that penalties set out in our law actually apply. There are no consequences for lying and cheating in this society. Just laws that say there are. Understand the difference?

      • Anonymous says:

        Well it sure is paying the lawyers good.

        • Anonymous says:

          …so of the 600 businesses that are known to have short changed their staff pensions including a number that deducted the money and pocketed it, how many prosecutions have there been?

          I'll take them odds.

           

          • Anonymous says:

            And how many of those employers are Caymanian? People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Caymanians are easily the most dishonest people on this island, the court and prison statistics demonstrate that.

            • Anonymous says:

              Those same statistics will tell you most of the prison officers are Caymanian. Yet most of the prison officers are Jamaican. Try thinking about what you are told rather than simply proclaiming it as truth. 

        • Anonymous says:

          I take it you are referring to all of them with the wrong work permits for their positions?

  29. Anonymous says:

    And will we be having the continued pleasure of his company in Cayman?

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, we only kick out productive highly trained and experienced north american fund accountants with substantial incomes. 

    • Anonymous says:

      Are you sure he didnt get married or has a child by one of these baby machines, in order to get to stay.  Always an alibi, to drop anchor here.

  30. Anonymous says:

    Let me guess, he has status and will be remaining? And when he can't get a job social services will assist?!

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, and based on the typical experience his 3 children from two different baby-mothers. Can someone tek out a permit for his sister?

    • Anonymous says:

      Wouldn’t be the first time Jamaicans in positions of authority here have overseen the making of inappropriate grants to their brethren.