Several weeks after hundreds of inmates, classified as hardcore, were re-transferred into the Brick facility in the compound of the Camp Street Prison, a quantity of cannabis, 3 cell phones along with 3 Digicel SIM cards, 4 lighters, 20 improvised weapons and 3 razor blades were found on Wednesday morning following a search at the facility.
Prison Director Gladwin Samuels said that entire brick prison was searched in a joint exercise that was conducted.
As a result of the July 9 Camp Street Prison break, unrest and conflagration, over a thousand prisoners were transported to other penitentiaries across the country. However, some of the “real bad” ones were recently brought back to the Brick building at Camp Street, after renovations were conducted.
Previously, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan had noted that the prisoners- before being placed at the new holding area- had been sanitised after leaving the Lusignan Prison walled area- where they were being kept temporarily- and before entering the Camp Street Penitentiary.
“They don’t have cell phones. They don’t have a number of the things that they had. They were sanitised this morning before they went into the prison…so it is important that we understand that. They were sanitised at Lusignan and then re-sanitised back at the prison [Camp Street] . So they are without all of the instruments and cell phones and other things that they had before,” the Minister had told media operatives on July 25, 2017.
This publication was informed that authorities are investigating the situation and are not ruling out collusion with the prison officers tasked with guarding the facility.
Just recently in a countrywide prison sweep, a prison officer attached to the Timehri Prison was placed under investigation after it was found that a quantity of drugs and mobile phones, among other items, were smuggled into the prison.
At the time, Director Samuels had said that “a prisoner indicated that a prison staff took pay for the items to pass during a visit.”
The police were called into to investigate the matter, however, no update has been forthcoming concerning that investigation.
