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Beaten prisoner says…Burning his mattress was the only way to get some attention
“Prison is not a nice place. I would advise people to stay focus in life. Try to do something good and don’t waste your time. You only have one life, make good use of it. Do good things, try to earn a name for yourself and earn respect.”
This is the advice of Calvin Bailey who is presently hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after he received a beating by prison warders on Saturday when he set his mattress alight in the ‘strong cell’ (solitary confinement) where he was placed since last April.
Bailey is facing retrial for the murder of his 18-month-old son, Shaquan Nero, who was slain after he allegedly attacked the child’s mother, Bernadette Nero in April, 2007, at Amelia’s Ward, Linden.
Bailey at the hospital yesterday16
Speaking from his hospital’s bed yesterday, the 36-year-old prisoner from Wismar Housing Scheme, Linden, explained that he only lit his mattress on fire to get some attention from prison warders.
The prisoner claimed that he suffers from asthma and being placed in solitary confinement is dangerous for him due to his health condition.
Solitary confinement is a form of punishment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact with the exception of prison staff.
According to Bailey, the solitary confinement cell is 20 feet high, seven feet in length and five feet wide. The walls are concrete and the floor is tiled with only one exit, and that door is made out of steel.
“It is not healthy for an asthma patient to be placed in the strong cell. It is too small and dangerous. When you are in there, it is difficult to breathe. You always have to be panting for breath,” said the prisoner.
Asked to explain his actions, Bailey said that he went to the senior prison officers twice last week and informed them about his health conditions but his pleas were ignored.
“They just ignoring me and I explained why I wanted to move. They (senior prison officials) said they don’t have time for madness,” Bailey claimed.
He further posited that burning his mattress was the only choice he had to get some attention.
According to Bailey, he used a lighter which he had purchased from another inmate to start the fire.
He is nursing a broken left arm and a chop wound to his right arm at the hospital.
Before being placed in solitary confinement, Bailey was in the prison corridors also called the ‘cat walk.” He was moved after prison officials were informed of a suspected escape plan by some inmates.
Asked whether he was a part of the escape plan, the 36-year-old prisoner declared, “No, no. I have no idea of such plan. I asked why I was placed in the strong cell and the officer said it is because of security reasons.”
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