Three prisoners were injured on Wednesday during separate incidents at the New Amsterdam Prison on Wednesday, Director of Prisons Dale Erskine has said.
However, reliable sources have told this newspaper that a prison officer was also injured after he intervened in one of the incidents.
Erskine said in a release issued yesterday that two prisoners—Sebastian Plato and Andy Adams—were injured in an incident in the Remands Dining Hall, where they sought to represent a fellow inmate. According to Erskine, the men were assaulted by three others. The two men, Erskine said, were transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital. According to him, Adams was treated and sent back to the prison while Plato, who was rendered unconscious due to an injury to the head, was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for further evaluation and treatment.
Meanwhile, prisoner Chris Rampersaud was reportedly injured during a fight with another inmate, Desmond Isaac, in the Male Block. The two men reportedly had a misunderstanding over an ongoing case in which they are jointly charged. Rampersaud is also currently serving a two-year sentence for break and enter and larceny. Prison Officer Tony Lewis, was reportedly injured after he intervened in the incident.
The incident reportedly occurred just after 6:15 am yesterday, when the prison cells were unlocked to allow prisoners to empty their utensils, which contained body waste. While the men were doing this, Lewis reportedly heard a loud noise coming from the upper flat of the male block on the northern side of the prison. On checking, Rampersaud was seen lying on the ground with the other prisoner above him with an improvised weapon, inflicting injuries, which resulted in him having fourteen stitches to the head. The weapon was taken away from the prisoner and Stabroek News understands that as Rampersaud was being taken towards the lower flat, Lewis was assaulted. The prison officer reportedly sustained injuries to his left hand. Both the prison officer and the inmate were subsequently taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where they were treated and sent away.
Rampersaud and Isaac have both been charged with robbery under arms and the case is currently pending in the Magistrates’ court. It is alleged that on September 12 last, the duo at Alexander Street, New Amsterdam, Berbice robbed Edward Taylor of a gold chain valued $300,000.
When Erskine had been contacted by this newspaper on Wednesday afternoon, he said he had no knowledge of any incident occurring in the New Amsterdam prison. “I just spoke with them [the New Amsterdam prison officials] and they didn’t tell me anything,” Erskine said.
However, in the release yesterday Erskine said that “the police are investigating the incidents as criminal acts and the accused inmates are currently isolated from the general population.”
He added that “The Administration of the Guyana Prison Service wishes to state that notwithstanding these occurrences, the prison is considered relatively calm at this time.”
These incidents are not the first of their kind to have occurred at the New Amsterdam penitentiary. Last June, two prisoners—Jewan Pertab and Sunjit Ramoutar—were attacked by another prisoner Vibert Moore and police had to be summoned to quell the disturbance. Moore had reportedly attacked the men with various implements. The two victims had to be hospitalized after the attack.
