Senior Reporter
For four months, PDO detainee Dillon Chotoo says he slept in a leaking 20-foot container cell at the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) in Santa Rosa, surrounded by rats and cockroaches, sometimes without running water and, at one point, with a clogged toilet filled with waste that remained unusable for days.
Then his Preventive Detention Order (PDO) was revoked, and he walked out of prison without an explanation and without being charged.
Chotoo, who was released last Friday, described his detention under the State of Emergency (SoE) as “hell” and said he is now seeking an apology from Government and intends to take legal action against the State.
However, the Government had previously made serious allegations against him.
His PDO, Legal Notice No. 332 of 2026, was issued on May 15 under the name Dillon Chootoo.
The order alleged Chotoo was “credibly identified” as a member of a group falling within the definition of the Anti-Gang Act. It further alleged the group had access to firearms and ammunition and was involved in armed home invasions, robberies and violent attacks. According to the order, Chotoo and others intended to continue or escalate violent criminal activity, and his detention was deemed necessary to prevent him from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety.
Chotoo, however, denies any involvement in criminal activity. He said police initially detained and questioned him twice about two home invasions in his area but he was never charged. Instead, six days later, he was transferred to ECRC, where he was informed he was being detained under a PDO.
“When I do the two interviews, for the two house invasions, they never give me no case,” Chotoo said.
“For the first three months in there when the SoE now start, they never give me no case. The first SoE done, they never give me no case. When the next time they extend the SoE now over here, they’re releasing people on the thing and they release me just so. They didn’t even give me no charge, nothing.”
Chotoo said conditions at ECRC quickly became another ordeal.
According to him, about eight men were housed in a 20-foot container cell with only two bunk beds, forcing several detainees to sleep on the floor.
“When it rains, the roof leaking and falling straight up on your bed spot itself. The prison leaking; it’s in a real bad state. Weekend, you don’t get no water,” he claimed.
“The containers have hole to the underneath with cockroach coming through, rat coming through inside the container where you’re sleeping.”
Chotoo claimed he developed a severe rash while incarcerated and claimed other detainees experienced similar illnesses. According to him, the rash spread among detainees, affecting their backs, arms, legs and feet and, in some cases, developing into open sores.
He also complained about the quality of the food.
Outside prison, Chotoo said his family struggled during his detention. With the new school year approaching, he said he was unable to provide for his children.
“I had to depend on people to buy books for my child to send to school because I lock up in prison. All for nothing, no crime I did,” he said.
He also complained about limited communication with relatives.
“You have to wait about 20 days to get one welfare call, which is two minutes. When you go by the welfare, you have to wait half-day for a welfare call to call your family,” he said.
Chotoo said the day he was released was the first time in four months he was able to speak with his daughter.
Asked to summarise his experience, he replied: “That’s hell, boy. A prison is hell. It’s the worst prison. I don’t even wish that on my own enemy.”
He added: “The Government right now with this SoE thing and PDO, that is hell for people. When they just take somebody just so, you have no evidence of them on such crime or whatever, and you just put them here and not a lawyer can even help you to come out of it.”
Yesterday, the T&T Prison Service said it had so far revoked 276 PDOs and released 187 detainees, with a further 89 remaining in custody.
The SoE ends on Thursday.
