More prisoners grilled yesterday

As the probe into Friday’s discovery of a loaded gun in the possession of a prisoner in the Camp Street jail continues, more prisoners were being grilled yesterday but prison and security officials remain mum on the matter.

Police were the first to reveal the findings in a press release Friday night, but prison officials continued their silence yesterday. Efforts again yesterday by this newspaper to solicit comments from Prisons Head Dale Erskine were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, this newspaper was informed that sedition accused Oliver Hinckson and three other prisoners are being questioned in connection with the matter and had been removed from the prison on Friday.

They were reportedly interrogated by officials and were returned to the penitentiary yesterday. However the interrogation is to resume tomorrow, a source said. Among the quartet too was the prisoner who was found with the weapon. It is still unclear how he managed to gain possession of it.

When Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee was asked whether prison officers were being questioned in connection with the find, Rohee said he was just aware that a number of prisoners were being questioned.  The minister also could not single out Hinckson as one of the prisoners under interrogation.

The minister told Stabroek News that the discovery had been made based on information and a subsequent search, however he did declined to identify the particular part of the prison where the inmate in whose possession the gun and ammo were found was housed.

Prison officers discovered the prisoner with a .38 revolver and eight matching rounds of ammunition in his possession around 3pm on Friday resulting in a  lockdown and search operation. The police were called in after the gun was found and a search of the entire complex was conducted. Arrange-ments have since been made to heighten security in and around the prison.

This newspaper was reliably informed yesterday that eleven cellular phones and 23 sharpened metal spoons and forks as well as a bag with ganja were discovered during the search operation.

The phones and implements were discovered in the prisoners’ cells while the ganja was found hidden between some wood and cloth in the Tailor Block, according to reports.

From all appearances the ganja find is not connected to the gun, phones and implements and it is believed that the bag with the drug was thrown over the prison wall facing Bent Street before Friday. According to information reaching Stabroek News a prisoner alerted a prison officer about the presence of the gun and other officers were informed. The prisoner who had the weapon, according to reports, is on remand for attempted murder and robbery under arms.

This newspaper also understands that the implements and cell phones were found in the cells of prisoners who are incarcerated for serious offences such as murder.

The discovery has again raised fresh concerns about security at the facility and how a gun and ammunition could get past prison security and end up in the hands of an inmate. In addition to that there is the question of how sharp implements and communication devices could be in the possession of prisoners and not be noticed by the guards.

Since the 2002 jailbreak during which five inmates made a bloody escape armed with an AK-47, there have been concerns about security.

That jailbreak occurred on Mashramani Day and with the launching of Carifesta here later this week sources say that there are concerns that something big could have been in the works for that day. Just weeks ago, a prisoner, Edwin Niles was found at Camp Street with ammunition in his pocket after a cleaning assignment at GDF Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.

It was thought that he might have been part of a plot to break out of the prison. He was then subjected to intense questioning and was apparently severely beaten at the jail by prison officers. He died several days later at the Georgetown Hospital as a result of his wounds and a post-mortem examination determined that he had died of a blood clot caused by burns on his back.