Death row inmate on hunger strike

Oct 11, 2008 News

– Erskine says claims investigated

A recent photograph of Ganga Deolall

Ganga Deolall, who is on death row for the 1993 ‘crankshaft murder’ at La Grange, West Bank Demerara, has reportedly gone on a hunger strike after receiving threats to his life. Deolall told relatives that he has been refusing his meals since Thursday, after a prison officer threatened to poison him.
Director of Prisons Dale Erskine told Kaieteur News yesterday that the matter is under investigation, but he noted that prisoners make similar allegations “from time to time” against prison officers.
Kaieteur News was told the dispute between Deolall and an identified prison officer began at around 11:30 hrs on Thursday, after Deolall complained to a welfare staffer about the quality of his meals and other conditions at the penitentiary.
Deolall, who continues to proclaim his innocence, had also reportedly asked to see the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission.
The request was reportedly made in the presence of three prison officers, and it is alleged that one of the officers became annoyed and threatened Deolall. It is alleged that after Deolall returned to his cell, the same prison officer visited the area and hinted that the death row inmate would be poisoned.
Deolall, Kaieteur News was told, has since refused all his meals. He has also reportedly informed the officer who is in charge of his cell block of the threats.
Deolall, 48, was sentenced to death for the October, 1993 murder of 29-year-old Yvette Lall, whose mutilated body, with a crankshaft and slab of concrete tied to it, was found at the La Grange foreshore.
The death row inmate has alleged that he signed a ‘confession statement’ after being tortured by some of the detectives who had interrogated him.