Three escape from Lusignan jail

Oct 16, 2018 News

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• inmates stage riot hours later

The Lusignan jail recorded the escape of three prisoners in the early hours of yesterday morning, and subsequent unrest that saw a number of inmates being shot with pellets, as many lit mattresses during the evening.

This publication learnt of three prisoners escaping from the Lusignan, East Coast Demerara Prison, yesterday morning, from a source, and this was later confirmed in a statement issued by Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, which indicated, “Prison officials have confirmed that at 04:40 hours, three prisoners escaped the facility by scaling the wall. On the run are Sudesh Dyal, a 23-year-old prisoner remanded for Break and Enter and Larceny and Escape from Custody, Dextroy Pollard, a 29-year-old prisoner of Wales Village on remand for Break and Enter and Larceny and Travis Evans, a 23-year-old prisoner of ‘C’ Field Sophia, who was in prison for murder.”

The statement also mentioned that the Guyana Police Force was putting all measures in place to locate and apprehend the escaped prisoners.

Director Samuels subsequently held a press conference to address all related issues, at his Lot 46 Brickdam, Stabroek, Georgetown office, where he informed media operatives that the aforementioned prisoners had escaped from holding bay #1 at the Lusignan Prisons.

Samuels said the facility was secured at the outer perimeters by four watch towers that were manned by police and prison ranks, who have a bird’s eye view of the facility that gave them the advantage of seeing into the prisons, which should have allowed them to witness the escape.

The Director of Prisons specified that the escape occurred between towers two and three, which at the time had a number of ranks who inexplicably failed to foil the escape. “It is clear, taking into consideration the close proximity of the two towers and the number of ranks deployed in those two towers, that those ranks were not alert, and I am forced to conclude that it is very likely that they were sleeping, thus resulting in them not observing the prisoners – first in their attempt to get the razor wire separated in order to pass and then during the process of them escaping by scaling the fence.”

Samuels gave the assurance that several search parties were deployed to effect the recapturing of the escapees.

And hours after the press conference, Kaieteur News received calls from the family members of prisoners, stating that there was a riot at the Lusignan Prison.

When this publication arrived on the scene, there were already two fire tenders and a number of high-ranking police and prison officials present around the facility.

Intermittently gunfire could be heard, and prisoners could also be heard shouting. Sometime around 19:00 hours smoke started to come from within the prisons and firemen rushed to put out the blaze that erupted as a result of prisoners lighting mattresses. Fire fighters had to be dodging missiles from within the prison that were being hurled by prisoners in an attempt to ward off their attempts to quell the fire.

A prison officer then fired some warning shots that saw the prisoners backing down for a short period of time.

Within this time, a police vehicle left the prison with a number of injured and wounded inmates, none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, arrived at the Lusignan Prison during the evening commotion, and was seen in discussion with Director Samuels,

A police escort accompanied a party rental service vehicle, which brought a number of stand-by lighting plants and deployed them around the prison, which saw the surroundings being significantly better illuminated, giving the engaging ranks a better advantage at combating the upheaval within the prison confines.

Kaieteur News learnt from a source that the prisoners started rioting around 16:00 hours after some prisoners felt that demands for basic comforts coupled with constant harassment by prison officers had been too much to bear.

Yesterday’s incidents at Lusignan follow the July 2017 escape of a number of prisoners from the Camp Street, and later, the Lusignan facility, two of whom, Paul Goriah and Cobena Stephens, are still on the run. All of this happened after the Camp Street Prisons were razed when prisoners started rioting under similar circumstances. This saw 17 inmates dying because of burns, smoke inhalation and injuries received during the unrest.

A Commission of Inquiry (COI) was conducted into the operations of the Georgetown Prisons and a number of recommendations were made based on the findings of the COI. Prisoners from Camp Street were moved to Lusignan Prison, where there have since been a number of complaints of the conditions under which the prisoners are kept.

This publication was told by relatives of prisoners that it was the same conditions that caused the problems before that existed, and that was the reason why the prisoners acted in that manner yesterday.

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