59 years after helping to foil deadly jailbreak…Vernon Lambert, 91, honoured with National Award

Jun 04, 2018 News

Fifty-nine years after he helped to foil a jail break which claimed the life of a colleague, 91-year-old Vernon Lambert has been awarded for his heroic efforts.

Mr. Vernon Lambert with his daughter, Glenette Hazel Lambert

Mr. Lambert was among 93 Guyanese who were conferred with National Awards by President David Granger on May 26, during celebrations of Guyana’s 52nd Independence Anniversary.
The veteran prison officer will be presented with the Medal of Service at an investiture ceremony slated for October 6.
Juliet Lambert Nurse, one of Mr. Lambert’s daughters, told Kaieteur News that she expressed gratitude that her father has finally been awarded for his bravery.
She added that it was a long awaited moment for her family, citing that since the tragic ordeal, he was never compensated nor was he given counselling.
“At the end of the day, his sacrifice and labour did not go in vain and we are all happy that he has received the award.”
The Ex-Prison Officers’ Association had made a formal recommendation to have Mr. Lambert bestowed this year with a National Award for his bravery.
Mr. Lambert’s resolve and courage were put to the test on January 10, 1959. He was 33, and still on probation as a warden with the Guyana Prison Service.
Lambert was sent to work in the ‘Brick prison’, the section holding prisoners in solitary confinement.
He was partnered with George ‘Daddy’ Cantzlear, a strongly-built senior prison officer. The two officers were instructed to ‘exercise’ the seven prisoners in solitary.
At around 3.00 p.m, he saw two convicts, Wilbert Henry and Dennis Semple, approaching him. As they came nearer, Semple dropped back. Henry, a strapping convict, walked past Lambert, then proceeded to choke the young warden from behind.
As Lambert struggled with his attacker, Semple, the other convict, drew a baton and began to rain blows on the warder’s stomach.
Lambert’s cries of ‘murder’ alerted Edwin France, a cadet officer. Seeing the commotion, France scaled a wall and entered the exercise yard. But Charles James, the convict who had masterminded the operation, kicked France’s whistle out of his mouth before the cadet officer could summon help. At that point, the inmate clubbed Lambert on the head. He collapsed, but nevertheless began to blow his whistle. In response, other officers began to blow theirs. The whistle blasts seemed to confuse one of the intended escapees, who was scaling the prison wall. He perched on the wall, as if uncertain of his next move. But then, his cell cronies shouted to him “wuk bannas , wuk,” and he scrambled to the other side of the wall.
But the alarm had summoned the Chief Prison Officer, Edgar Baird, who began to enquire about Cantzlear’s whereabouts. They finally found Cantzlear bound and murdered in a cell.
Lambert was sent to the infirmary. A head wound he sustained required ten stitches.
While there, he heard the inmates shouting: “We want blood!”
Concerned for his safety, the prison officials hustled Lambert through the prison’s back gate. He was taken to the Georgetown Hospital, where he collapsed again.
When he recovered, he was in a ward surrounded by persons who were praying for his recovery. The Director of Prisons also visited him. He would later learn that convicts Charles James, Wilbert Henry, Dennis Semple and Douglas Lewis, called ‘Sotie’, had scaled the prison wall facing D’Urban Street.
James, Henry and Semple were recaptured shortly after, while Lewis was later found dead. It was later alleged that James and Lewis had killed Cantzlear, with Henry and Semple acting in consort with them.
Lambert testified in court against the killers. James, Henry and Semple were convicted and hanged.
Although some of his colleagues advised him to quit, Lambert was soon back at work at the Georgetown Prisons.