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Murder accused started Juvenile Holding Centre fire
– cops boost security at facility,
…10 transferred to Grove Police
Two 16-year-old boys, who are facing murder charges, allegedly started last Monday’s fire at the Juvenile Holding Centre, which left electrical damage and rendered three inmates unconscious.
Ranks at the scene.
Police sources indicated last night that the culprits are likely to be charged. The two teens, along with eight other inmates, have since been transferred to the Golden Grove Police Station. This is reportedly due to the presence of exposed electrical wires in the damaged cells.
Divisional Commander Marlon Chapman disclosed that security has been boosted at the facility.
Some sources suggested that one of the juveniles might have acted out of anger at the fact that he will be transferred to the Georgetown Prisons on Friday. He turns 17 on that day.
The youth had attended court on Monday, some hours prior to starting the fire.
He is on remand for allegedly clubbing a man to death with a hammer. His alleged accomplice in the arson attempt is charged in connection with a murder in the interior.
The youths, who were in cells facing each other, allegedly started the fire by ‘bridging’ electrical wires and setting torn mattresses and others flammable materials alight.
One juvenile allegedly pushed a lighted object out of the cell, while the other ‘supplied’ the flammable material.
One inmate, aged 14, and two others, aged 15, collapsed in their cells and had to be treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for smoke inhalation. They are said to be stable.
The culprits had also set small fires on Saturday night.
A source said that around 18.00 hrs on Monday, inmates from Cell One and Cell Three, set toilet paper, pieces of cloth and sponge that was torn from mattresses alight.
They then threw the lighted materials into the walkway.
‘A’ Division Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Marlon Chapman said that around 18.00 hrs, ranks at the Sophia facility smelled smoke and saw pieces of lighted sponge in the walking area.
After extinguishing the flames, they checked the cells and found three juveniles in an unconscious state.
They were treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, but were not admitted.
Police ranks who work at the facility are unarmed. Some have repeatedly expressed concern about guarding inmates, some of whom are violent.
During interviews last year, police ranks who are stationed at the holding centre had alleged that violent juveniles sometimes attacked ranks with makeshift weapons and bags of faeces.
They had expressed concern that minors who have committed petty offences are housed with others who are detained for more serious offences, including murder.
They said that one 16-year-old on a murder charge had tried to stab a police rank with a piece of sharpened metal the teen had broken off from a bed.
The ranks said that some juveniles have even yanked out ‘live’ electrical wiring from the cells to rig up booby traps for the staff.
”They would tie the electrical wiring with current to the cell doors, which would start to glow red, and then call the ranks,” one source said.
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