Georgetown : Government has announced that a three-man panel will soon be appointed to investigate the unrest at the Camp Street, Prison which left 17 prisoners dead and five others injured.
Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan at a press conference at the Ministry of the Presidency made this announcement yesterday. The press conference was shared by high ranking prison officials.
The Public Security Minister reported that Wednesday morning a monthly mandatory joint services operation and search was conducted at the facility where 19 cellphones and a quantity of marijuana were found and seized.
This seizure by the ranks resulted in the unrest in the Capital ‘A’ section of the prison, where the prisoners, using mattresses, set nine fires, which were all extinguished. Director of Prisons, Carl Graham said, everything possible was done to save the prisoners’ lives.
According to Superintendent of Prison, Kevin Pilgrim, the exercise commenced at approximately 10:00hrs at which time the 16 prisoners were alive.
The Minister explained that collaboration will be forged with the judiciary to ensure that the long waiting time for cases to be called is minimised which, he explained is one of the reasons why the prisoners protested as they complained of the long waiting time for their cases to be called in court.
The Joint Services are closely monitoring activities at the Camp Street Prison and citizens are assured that reinforcement measures have been put in place to ensure that there is no recurrence of today’s unrest.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Presidency in a press release issued this afternoon, stated that President David Granger will tomorrow name the members of the panel to investigate the unrest.
The Camp Street prison was built accommodate 600 prisoners and is currently overcrowded with a population of approximately 984.
