Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan says six persons and not eight have now escaped from the Camp Street Prison, as a result of last Sunday’s series of catastrophic events.
As he recanted his initial announcement of there being eight persons who escaped the penitentiary, Ramjattan blamed several factors- all surrounding the prison riot and fire which left the facility almost completely gutted.
“…There was massive confusion in relation to the prison, the inmates, the fire, so many things, transportation, the hustling of getting a place to put those persons and managing to do that in a ground that was walled at Lusignan, the burning of the records created problems too, with numbers and names, creating difficulties and challenges and so we did come up with some figures as to how many people were indeed the escapees,” he explained.
Ramjattan said the new figure of there being six escapees can be verified by the acting Prison Director, Gladwin Samuels and Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud who were with him during a press briefing held earlier on Thursday at the Ministry of Public Security.
“What was in my original brief, that there were eight (8) persons that were escapees, we’ve now accounted for two more” he explained.
He further sought to explain that the miscalculation came about due to the lack of cooperation from the prisoners.
Based on the information provided by the Public Security Minister the only prison escapees one the run are Mark Royden Durant, Uree Varswyck, Stafrei Hopkinson Alexander, Desmond James, Cobena Sephens and Cornelius Thomas.
Durant, also known as “Royden Williams” and “Smallie”, was charged along with several others for the 2008 Bartica massacre.
The other escapees were also imprisoned for murder.
