Inmates at the New Oppor-tunity Corps, Ondern-eeming, Essequibo Coast escaped from the compound last night and rampaged through the area with only four being recaptured by the Joint Services up to press time this morning.
According to a police press release, around 7 pm the inmates of the juvenile offenders’ institution broke out of their dormitories and stormed into the compound of the complex. Police said that they believe one or more of them had secreted themselves outside of the dorm and subsequently broke the locks, letting the other inmates out.
Police said that the number of escapees was not confirmed.
However, Stabroek News was told by a source that around 50 inmates had managed to escape the NOC.
According to the source, civilians in the area have been menaced and in the process one man had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment.
“They beat up a guy that was walking in the street to go home… his face get cut up… they stoned a car and damage it, ran into someone’s yard and running people down the sandpit… the police vehicle them just deh bout,” the source said.
Sometime around midnight, several female inmates also escaped their dorms. The girls were said to be breaking windows and doors and during attempts by the police to stop them, several bottles and other objects were hurled at the lawmen.
When contacted, a policeman employed at the NOC, who preferred to be unnamed, said that all the female inmates were outside and had been causing chaos. “They brucking up everything… all the glass, all the roof, climbing on the roof, cussing and carrying on,” the man told Stabroek News.
He noted that some male inmates remained in the dorms and were not a part of the chaos.
He estimated that there were a total of 180 youths at the institution and said in all his years working there, he had never seen something such as this.
The New Opportunity Corps functions mainly for juvenile offenders and wanderers between the ages of 10 and 18 sent by the Courts for a period of training and social rehabilitation. The maximum time that one can spend there is three years, the minimum being one year.
There have been smaller break-outs in the past from the NOC.
In May last year four young men escaped from the facility.
The young men were tasked with cleaning the compound of the NOC and may have slipped out of the institution during the daytime.
Security at the facility is said to be light.
In December 2010, then President Bharrat Jagdeo had visited the facility. He had encouraged youths there to utilise the available opportunities at the centre to obtain an education, even as he gave assurances that government would continue to take steps to ensure their transition back into society is smooth.
“Government sees you just as valuable as any other child in the country and you can count on us anytime,” Jagdeo told the children during the NOC’s annual Minister’s Luncheon, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
He said too that despite the unfortunate circumstances that led to their living at the institution, a bright future still lies ahead for them and that each of them has an important role to play in the transformation of Guyana.
The president also encouraged the children to look past their current circumstances and to be hopeful. “I promise that we as a Government will do whatever it takes to ensure that your reintegration with society goes as smoothly as possible,” he added.
