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One prison escapee captured as hunt continues
On the second day of an intense manhunt for two prison escapees, lawmen have captured one of them, 23-year-old Ravindra Samaroo.
Yesterday, authorities in Berbice picked up the trail of the men and closed in on Samaroo just two miles from
Still on the run:
Lennox Patterson
the prison in New Amsterdam, from which they escaped on Wednesday evening.
Samaroo, of Timmers Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam is back in custody, but 26-year-old Lennox Patterson of 369 Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, is still on the run. Patterson was spotted around the said area and was still being pursued up to press time.
The two prisoners were occupying adjoining cells at the Penitentiary Walk facility. Reports are that on Wednesday the men acted in concert, knocking out a single 7-ft. board from the prison’s wooden walls.
Leaving four companions behind, they reportedly squeezed their way through the hole in the wall, and climbed down bed sheets they had lowered. The men managed to scale the facility’s high zinc fence, which has barbed wire on top.
Officials surmised that they made their way across a poorly illuminated farm located behind the prison. By 20:20hrs on Wednesday, the two men were ‘free.’
Police and prison officials were on high alert after the jail break. They had cordoned off all exit points in the county, and were closely monitoring the town and surrounding areas.
Speaking to Kaieteur News last evening, Head of ‘B’ Division (ag), Commander Watts said while it was unfortunate that the two escaped, the situation could have been much worse.
“We are very much concerned when armed robbers are back on the streets. The community can never be safe that way,” Watts said.
Captured: Ravindra Samaroo
The Commander said the public’s assistance is needed. “We are not looking to cast blame, but if the prison was more vigilant, this would not have happened,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, a prison official seemed unimpressed with the old facility as a place to hold dangerous inmates. “If you visit the prison, the escape wouldn’t be so surprising,” the official remarked.
The New Amsterdam Prison, it was explained, was erected since 1927 and is in contravention of traditional building standards for such facilities.
“The walls in such prisons should be double walls. They say greenheart, the material used for the prison lasts for 100 years, but this prison has been here since 1927. It’s antique,” the official remarked.
The prison walls have since been repaired and the prisoners who were in those cells have been relocated, the official divulged. The escapees are ‘regulars’, and have been in and out of prison, he said.
The authorities are asking anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Lennox Patterson to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-8196, 225-6411, 333-2191, 333-2151, 911 or the nearest police station.
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