Prisoners protest inhumane treatment at $60M Brickdam lockup

May 11, 2021 News

A photo taken of the shower when the lockup was commissioned.

The Brickdam lockup.

A toilet located in one of the cells. This photo also taken on the day the lockup was commissioned.

Kaieteur News – On Sunday, a total of 11 male prisoners protested inhumane treatment at the $60M Brickdam lockup which was only commissioned last year. The brief protest was staged between 21:00hrs and 21:27hrs. According to information reaching this publication, the prisoners protested because they were not getting to use the toilet and shower facilities.
According to a police report, the prisoners reportedly lit jerseys and food boxes and then threw them into the catwalk (the hallway of the prison/lockups). Commander of the Georgetown Police District, Simon McBean, said that ranks on duty at the time, heard the prisoners making loud noises and they responded immediately. When the ranks entered, this publication was told, two charred t-shirts were found lying in the catwalk. Normalcy was restored shortly after. McBean related that his ranks searched the cells and carried out preliminary investigations to determine what the prisoners used to burn the t-shirts. It seems, McBean said, that they might have use something that they had taken with them into cells.
The ranks have also been unable to pinpoint which one of the cells the charred t-shirts were thrown from.
Speaking to the reason for the protest, McBean said that it was not a case whereby they were unable to use the facilities but rather time was allotted for them to have a bath.
He explained that there are two separate showers located outside of the cells and the prisoners are taken out every day to have a bath but are only given one hour to do so.
With regards to the toilets, McBean explained that each cell has a toilet but some of them have issues and are currently being serviced.
As a result, the commander said, the few cells that have working toilets have been left vacant to facilitate the prisoners but sometimes the “wait is lengthy.”
The Brickdam lockup which cost some $60M to construct, took seven years to be completed and was only commissioned on October 14, 2020. Officials had said that it was supposed to be a modern, upgraded facility that meets international humane standards for prisoners.

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