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Mentally ill prisoner found dead in lockups
Police are investigating the death of a prisoner in the lockups of the Brickdam Police Station.
James Nelson, 47, of Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara, was found dead in the Brickdam lock-ups at around 06:30h yesterday.
Police said that Nelson, who had a history of mental illness, had sustained injuries, reportedly after banging his head against a cell wall.
Dead: James Nelson
But Nelson’s relatives believe that he was the victim of foul play and are pleading for a thorough investigation into his demise.
Nelson’s wife, Gloria, told Kaieteur News that the man was a mason and had recently worked on a fence at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
He had also served in the Guyana Defence Force several years ago and had fathered two children.
According to a police statement, Nelson was arrested at about 10:00hrs on Monday, after he had entered the compound of the Ministry of Home Affairs and had begun behaving disorderly.
The statement said that Nelson alleged that a contractor owed him a sum of money and had sent him off the job.
“He was spoken to by a Special Constabulary rank on duty but continued to behave in a disorderly manner and had to be restrained,” the statement said.
The rank subsequently arrested Nelson and handed him over to a police patrol, which took Nelson to the Brickdam Police Station.
Having passed through the procedures for prisoners at the Brickdam Police Station, “James Nelson was placed in the lockups where he remained throughout the night. There were 20 other prisoners in the lockups for various offences.
“At about 06:30hrs today (yesterday), acting on information received from a prisoner, police ranks entered the lockups and found James Nelson lying motionless in his cell. “He was picked up and taken to the GPHC where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An examination of the body revealed a bruise over his right eye and a small cut over the left eye.
“Other prisoners were questioned and they said that during the night James Nelson was seen banging his head against the wall of the lockups.”
The release stated that contact was made with the victim’s sister, Michelle Nelson, who confirmed that her brother would suffer a nervous breakdown from time to time.
The police are awaiting the results of a post mortem examination.
Gloria Nelson told Kaieteur News that her husband, from whom she is separated, was a psychiatric patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Relatives said that Nelson disappeared last week Friday and they attempted to find him so that he could be treated.
They said that early yesterday morning, one of Nelson’s sons was informed that his father was in the Brickdam Police Station lockups.
Shortly after, someone informed the same son that his father was dead.
The relatives complained that when they arrived at the Brickdam Police Station, police ranks took statements from them and they were reassured that they would be allowed to see Nelson’s body in order to confirm his identity.
However, they alleged that when a hearse arrived, the police ranks refused to allow them to view the body and ordered them out of the compound.
They said that a relative who had a glimpse of the body at the Lyken Funeral Parlour observed that Nelson’s face was badly swollen.
Nelson’s demise comes in the wake of the death of at least three other prisoners, including that of Georgetown Prison inmate Edwin Niles, who succumbed after he was allegedly tortured.
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