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Ammo found on prisoner in Camp Street jail
– inmate who smuggled in rounds hospitalized with burns, broken arm; relatives allege torture
By Michael Jordan
Joint Services officials are investigating a possible jailbreak plot following the discovery of a quantity of ammunition in the Camp Street Prison.
Director of Prisons Dale Erskine confirmed yesterday that an inmate identified as Edwin Niles, was found on Thursday with seven rounds of ammunition in his possession. He declined to comment further.
The discovery occurred shortly after the 36-year-old prisoner, who is incarcerated on a narcotics charge, returned to the penitentiary from the army Camp Ayanganna base after he and other inmates had been sent there to weed the compound.
The investigators are probing reports that Niles returned to the prison wearing another pair of trousers.
The rounds, reportedly similar to those used in a pen gun, were subsequently found inside the prison.
Kaieteur News was told Niles alleged that someone gave him the trousers with the ammunition inside while he was in the Camp Ayanganna compound.
However, he failed to identify the person who allegedly gave him the trousers.
Asked if the find might be linked to a jailbreak plot, a senior prison official conceded that this is one of a number of possibilities that investigators are looking at.
“When you find ammunition in prison, it opens the mind to a lot of possibilities (and) that is one of the possibilities that we are looking at.”
But Niles’s mother and other relatives yesterday alleged that he was tortured leading to his admission to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Thursday night with a broken left arm and burns on his back.
According to a statement by hospital officials, “Mr. Edwin Niles…was brought to the Accident and Emergency Unit around 21:51 hrs on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 with injuries about the body and burns to the back.
“Mr. Niles was allegedly beaten by other inmates. He was admitted to Ward A1,” the statement added.
But Niles’s relatives allege that he was beaten and also doused with hot water while being interrogated about the ammunition.
PNCR Leader Robert Corbin confirmed yesterday that the injured inmate’s relatives had made similar allegations of torture to him.
“I can conform that the mother and other relatives spoke to me, and I gave them advice on how to proceed,” Corbin told Kaieteur News.
The Opposition Leader said that he would not comment further until he had more information on the matter.
This newspaper understands that the relatives alleged that the interrogators beat Niles with a stick and rubber hose, and later doused him with hot water.
When this newspaper visited the hospital yesterday, Niles was being guarded by a female prison officer. His left arm was heavily bandaged and burns were clearly visible on his back.
Niles’s reputed wife was allowed to speak briefly with him in the presence of other prison officials and an army officer. Some sources say that Niles was interrogated by army and prison officials.
However, Kaieteur News was also told that the prisoner was also interrogated at the Brickdam Police Station.
According to a Police official, Niles arrived at the station with injuries to his arm and back. He was subsequently admitted to the Georgetown Hospital.
Thursday’s ammunition find comes at a time when several high-profile prisoners are being housed in the country’s main penitentiary.
Several cellular phones were also found in prison cells a few months ago.
And the allegations of torture have surfaced even as the army is still to release its report on similar allegations that were made against members of the Guyana Defence Force.
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