Latest update December 7th, 2024 1:49 AM
Latest News
- Guyana’s oil contract “very fair” – Exxon’s Vice President
- Jagdeo’s statement on showing how oil money is spent “the most reckless admission of gross disregard to the prudent management” of Guyana – Hughes
- Israeli forces storm into Gaza hospital, expel some staff, displaced people, its director says
- Airport security nabbed with cocaine at CJIA
- Teen allegedly kills miner at Kurutuka Village
Prison booty…Rope, hacksaw blades point to possible escape plot
An inventory of the items seized in last Saturday’s early morning raid on the Camp Street prison has been released, revealing contraband items ranging from a hacksaw blade, three files and a quantity of rope to
The cache of items seized in the recent raid
lighters and two kitchen knives.
According to a source, these and other items are highly indicative of a possible escape plot.
The inventory also listed 149 lighters, 124 razor blades, 358 Ziploc bags containing leaves, seeds and stems of marijuana, 173 improvised weapons, 10 SIM cards, 44 cell phones, 30 batteries, 19 ear pieces, 19 packs of cigarettes (four singles), 11 scissors, 9 metal spoons and five tattoo machines with a bottle of ink and 11 syringe needles.
Other items included a quantity of wires, three memory cards, a flash drive, a bottle of pepper, a hook and belt, three coconut graters, four radio speakers, three screwdrivers and mirrors, a wire brush and padlock, a pack of bamboo rolling papers (wraps), three nail clips and 60 chargers and accessories.
According to Director of Prisons, Carl Graham, in a release yesterday, the aim of the exercise was to remove all prohibited articles within the prison, including weapons, drugs and cellular phones.
“The exercise commenced at 05:00 hours and all of the Joint Services ranks assigned to the operation were briefed on the objectives before the operation commenced,” he stated.
The release revealed that during the operation 13 prisoners were transferred to the different prison locations and the operation concluded at 18:30 hours without any incident.
In an interview with Kaieteur News, Graham was confident that notwithstanding the bust, existing measures that are in place will be effective in curbing the situation. Graham had also stressed that the weapons that were seized were made from items and infrastructure within the prison itself.
He stated that some prisoners have taken to breaking up beds in an effort to make these weapons. Some of the counter measures within the building itself, according to Graham, were sanitization exercises, and accounting for materials, with checks and balances and forms to sign in and out of the prison.
He also noted that certain areas where prisoners might get access to materials to fashion a weapon have been restricted. In addition, Graham stated that the buildings are reinforced. The Director also pointed out that there is added security at the gates, with no one being allowed in without a mandatory security check.
Added to this, according to Graham, is the presence of disciplined forces on the roadways surrounding the prisons, to prevent contraband being thrown over the walls.
The bust comes in the wake of a deadly fire in the prison on March 3, which claimed the lives of 17 prisoners and injured others including prison wardens. In the wake of that fire, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) was ordered by President David Granger.
The recently concluded CoI was presided over by retired Justice James Patterson, Activist Merle Mendonca and former Director of Prisons Dale Erskine.
It featured testimonies from prisoners, prison officials and fire officials. Even during the CoI, inmates could be observed on social media using cell phones and uploading pictures.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
GECOM is not the problem
…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- Democracy, they say is messy, unpredictable, and often misunderstood. But in Guyana, democracy... more
Haiti: Tragically Descending into Deeper Crisis
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- As gang violence spirals out of control in Haiti, the limitations of international... more
Weekend Cartoon
