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Mar 09, 2009 News
A riot could be brewing at the Georgetown Prison. Inmates there are expressing disgust at the constant beatings they suffer at the hands of prison officers.
Kaieteur News understands that prison officers have developed a new habit of waking inmates in the middle of the night and inflicting severe beatings, leaving many of them suffering various degrees of injuries.
And to make matters worse, prison authorities have been reluctant to take the injured to seek medical attention at the Georgetown Hospital to prevent the alleged beatings from being exposed.
A reliable source within the main Camp Street Prison told this newspaper that at the moment there are over 60 injured prisoners at the institution.
This newspaper was told that as recent as Friday night an inmate called Red Hat suffered a suspected broken leg as a result of being beaten by the officers and he has still not been taken to the hospital for medical attention.
It is alleged that the inmate was fingered in the recent narcotics find in which a prison officer was implicated.
“Jail has no treatment for injuries like this. Jail don’t have Plaster of Paris. They frighten to carry the injured to the hospital because they will be exposed,” one inmate said.
The inmate said that initially prison officials tried to place the injured man into another cell so they could pin the injuries on other inmates.
When the other inmates objected, one of them was dealt a lash to his head for which he received treatment at the prison infirmary.
Last year prison inmate Edwin Niles died as a result of a beating after ammunition was found in a pair of pants he was wearing, following an outdoor assignment at GDF Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.
Two Senior Superintendents of Prisons have since been charged with manslaughter as a result of that incident.
According to the source ,the beatings are being carried out by rogue officers who are supervised by an Assistant Superintendent.
The source said that the said officer was responsible for the Georgetown Prison riot of 2006 and was subsequently transferred to the Mazaruni facility. He has since returned to the main jail.
“When the Admin Section gone home, then he does start. He just believe that he could run this place by driving fear. Like he out to prove a point. You can’t run a prison by fear; you will get problems,” one inmate told this newspaper.
“This situation like a volcano waiting to erupt and believe me it will be bloody,” another inmate warned.
According to the inmates who spoke to this newspaper, the officers are seeking information on cell phones and drugs within the prison walls.
Within recent times the Georgetown Prison has become so overcrowded that officials have resorted to placing new inmates in a section called “social”, among those that have been deemed mentally challenged.
There are reports that the cells in the Georgetown Prisons have as many as 18 prisoners crammed into one cell at a time, some of whom cannot walk.
“After the beatings, the Sanitary (section) full. There is a riot brewing and a lot of people gon get hurt. We asking y’all fuh do something fuh we because this thing getting real out of hand,” the inmate told this newspaper.
Guyana’s prisons have negative ratings, with regards to the treatment of prisoners, according to international human rights groups.
“You see, if something starts in here, the officials wouldn’t have time with the prisoners, they will just save themselves,” the inmate declared.
This newspaper has been tying desperately to contact Director of Prison, Dale Erskine, and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, but has been unsuccessful.
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