Prison officials and an orderly accused of abuse by ex-prisoner

Nov 26, 2015 News

– ringleader of the alleged beating placed in confinement
An ex-prisoner is alleging that he was severely beaten by three prison officials and an orderly while he was remanded at the Georgetown Prison for six months.

Selwin Atwell’s eye after he was beaten in prison.

Selwin Atwell, 25, of Lot 2 Layne Avenue, West Ruimveldt yesterday contended that he was wrongfully beaten by a group of prison officials and an orderly after he was accused of disrespecting a Matron.
Atwell, whose charge of theft was dismissed against him on Tuesday, was beaten to his head and about his body with cutlasses, fashioned from bed rails. He said that the incident occurred two weeks ago after a Matron accused him of “causing trouble” with another prisoner, who was cussing him out at his bedside.
“I can’t see how I disrespected her if all I said was that I can’t stop another prisoner from coming to my bed,” he said, contending that after his exchange of words with the Matron, he was thrown into a small cell where he couldn’t lie or sit. He was forced to stand all day in the cell without any food.
Early the next morning, he said he was awakened from his sleep with a beating.
However, Director of Prison, Carl Graham, denied Atwell’s allegation that he was assaulted by prison officials. He said that the man had told officials that he was beaten by fellow prisoners and not prison officers.
He stressed that Atwell’s case may very well be one of retaliation. Atwell was fingered in the beating of another prisoner. Graham said that the prisoners might have retaliated. “It is very unlikely that officers would beat a prisoner in such a manner,” he said.
He stated, nevertheless, that the orderly who was accused of being the ringleader of the beating was placed in confinement, pending adjudication.
“We are hoping that Atwell would return to the prison to give a statement and give evidence in the trial. We want justice to be dispensed in a just and fair manner,” he emphasized.
Nonetheless, Atwell maintained that it was the said orderly and a group of officers who carried out the beating. He recalled that it was 3:00 am when he was awakened out of his sleep by the officials. \
“I jumped up and they shove me back on the bed and started chopping me with cutlasses… They told me I was getting the beating because I disrespected the Matron. One of them told me I ain’t getting nothing yet,” he said he was lashed in his head, stabbed in his right shoulder with the metal and hit repeatedly in his left eye.
After he was beaten, he said he was prevented from visiting the prison doctor. “The orderly told me to bear my pain because I’m a man. When I tried go on my own I was shoved back into the cell and he told me if I wasn’t satisfied with this morning beating I could get more,” he related.
After his case was dismissed, Atwell’s mother, Donna, took him to the Woodlands Hospital where he met with a doctor. She said the doctor told him that the trauma had damaged “three-quarters of the tissues” in his eyes.
Graham also refuted the claim that Atwell was denied medical attention. In fact, he said, Atwell was removed from his cell and placed in the prison’s mini-hospital, where he was treated.
“We went to the police station. We got no justice. We went to the Ministry of Public Security and we got no justice. It is the same everywhere,” she said, adding: “Not because someone is a prisoner they should be treated that way. They are not supposed to beat him and they certainly not suppose to deny him medical attention.”