"Too many prisoners escaping"

“Too many prisoners escaping”

Jan 25, 2009 News

– Minister Rohee

By Rustom Seegopaul

During his address to the Conference of Inspectors and Sergeants of the Guyana Police Force, on Friday, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that police buildings, including police stations, police barracks, police lockups and compounds, need to be better kept.
In addition, the Minister said, he saw the need for more attention to be paid to the supervision of the lockups in various police stations. “Too many prisoners have been escaping from police custody, and too many incidents have been occurring at police lockups. This situation needs remedial action,” said Rohee.
The middle of last year saw a number of breakouts from various lockups, most notably on June 25, when Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles managed to escape from the Sparendaam Police Station lockups by slipping through a hole in the floor of the lockups.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee

He, along with Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, wreaked havoc and mayhem until their demise at Kuru Kururu on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
Similarly, another prisoner, Shawn Yhap, who was serving time for simple larceny, escaped while on an outdoor exercise. Yhap was discovered missing following checks after the exercise had been completed.
A manhunt was subsequently launched.
Last year, there were a number of jailbreaks and attempted jailbreaks, including the December 28, 2008 attempt by six dangerous inmates, two of whom are suspects in the recent Bartica and Lusignan massacres, to break out of the Georgetown Prison.
A prison official said that the inmates broke out of the Remand Dormitory by prying out a bar from a “cell window”. After the inmates had climbed through the window, they climbed down a water tank trestle and made their way into the compound of the prison.
Prison authorities and members of the Joint Services prevented the men from escaping.
Five of the men were recaptured in the compound, but one man, Sherwin Moses, managed to scale the prison wall. He was later apprehended.
In November 2008, some prisoners of the New Amsterdam Male Prison staged an attempted prison break. This bid to escape was foiled when a prison official saw them trying to escape and sounded the alarm.
The prisoners who were trying to escape were in a cell when one of them asked a prison officer’s permission to use the lavatory. When the officer opened the door, the group of inmates attacked him, relieved him of his keys, and tied him up using a sheet.
They then proceeded to open other cells, releasing other prisoners. Another prison officer saw this and raised the alarm. Combined efforts from prison officials and members of the Guyana Police Force thwarted the escape bid.
In his address at the Conference of Inspectors and Sergeants of the Guyana Police Force, Rohee said that inspectors and sergeants could do more to make sure that the police stations and other buildings under their command were better kept.
He underlined the fact that the cleaning of police buildings should be ongoing and that ranks should not wait for notification of an upcoming inspection before they cleaned up the buildings and surroundings.
A previous Home Affairs Minister had advised that persons being held for minor offences at various police stations should be utilized to clean up police buildings and compounds, and then be sent on their way.
This, he said, would help ensure that the police buildings are in good condition, and would also help ensure that the lockups were not crowded with persons being held only for minor offences.