Prison Inquiry seems like a “window dressing” exercise – TIGI

BY DEVINA SAMAROO, March 10, 2016 By GuyanaTimes, http://www.guyanatimesgy.com/2...ssing-exercise-tigi/

Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI) President, Reverend Compton Meerabux said the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) established to probe the circumstances within the prison system appears to be nothing more than a window dressing exercise.

TIGI President, Reverend Compton Meerabux

He also contended that there poses a clear “conflict of interest” with the former Director of Prisons Dale Erskine sitting as one of the three Commissioners.

During an interview with Guyana Times on Wednesday, Meerabux explained that there needs to be an ongoing comprehensive approach towards reforming the entire prison system but pointed out that the Government’s CoI seems to be “short-termed” and “superficial.”

“It just appears to be a window dressing exercise and not a genuine commission,” he stated.

He further enlightened that by having the former Director of Prisons as one of the Commissioners, it creates a widespread perception that the findings coming out of the CoI will not be credible.

“If you’ve been the Director of Prisons over a period of time then there is a conflict of interest there because he would also be covering up what was going on, you know,” he pointed out.

On that note, Meerabux said the Commissioners should comprise of persons who are knowledgeable of how the prison system works but has nothing to gain or lose by the findings of the CoI.

“I would say that you would need somebody who knows that prison, a neutral person, like in the welfare and social work who knows that prison,” he stated.

Additionally, Attorneys Christopher Ram and Ronald Burch-Smith both contended that it is inappropriate to have the former Prison Director on the Commission since his stewardship of the prisons should itself be investigated.

Erskine presided over the prisons when there was the historic 2002 jailbreak, where five dangerous criminals shot and stabbed their way out of the Camp Street Prison.

Moreover, families of the prisoners who perished during the recent rioting at the Camp Street penitentiary also expressed skepticism with the former Director of Prisons being on the Commission.

Meanwhile, Meerabux underscored the need for a holistic rehabilitation programme to be rolled out for the prisoners and an advanced training programme for the prison officers.

He said programmes for the prisons should aim at developing skills among them, while creating an opportunity for them to earn an honest income.

Making reference to the Mazaruni Prison where inmates are involved in agricultural and livestock farming, Meerabux highlighted that prisoners are meaningfully occupied and therefore, it would be easier for them to be reintegrated into society upon release.

He noted too that their families should also be involved in these rehabilitation processes.

In relation to stamping out corruption within the prison system, Meerabux explained that prison officers should constantly undergo training activities that would teach them to relate to prisoners by studying their case history and their background, as opposed to just treating them as less than human.

“Do not decriminalise them before you start rehabilitating them,” he stated.

In fact, Meerabux said TIGI is willing to provide assistance in crafting such initiatives.

“We are willing to help. We met with the President David Granger last year and we said we are willing to help but we are yet to receive an invitation,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has already assured that public that the CoI will not be “hoodwinked”.

Prison CoI: Inmate says Prison Officers refused to open door during fire

March 10, 2016, http://guyanachronicle.com/pri...en-door-during-fire/

Dwayne Lewis testifies at the CoI.

As the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the deadly prison riot at the Camp Street prison is underway, the first witness, Dwayne Lewis is alleging that prison officers refused to open the door to let prisoners out during the fire, which claimed the lives of 17 inmates on March 03.

Lewis, who is on remand at the Camp Street prison on a manslaughter charge, testified before the three member commission this morning, where he revealed that while the fire was in progress, six canisters of tear gas were thrown inside the room by prison officers.

He explained that prior to the fire being set, he and other prisoners were ordered out of the Capital ‘A’ division and while he was packing his belongings, he heard someone say “lock the door.”

“When the first set of prisoners came out and they escorted them — is when they pass the order that let them lock the door and let them die in there,” Lewis said.

He could not say who passed the order but noted that prisoners requested that the door be opened and identified one “Patterson” as the officer who refused to open the door.

Lewis claimed that the fire started inside the remand section of the building and that inmates tried to quell it but had no water to do so. As such, he noted that some of the prisoners then broke a wall which separates the ‘A’ and ‘B’ division in order to escape.

Dwayne Lewis

“After the hole was broken and we applied for water to control the fire, there wasn’t any water coming to the facility at that time. After that 6 cans with tear smoke was thrown into the building,” Lewis told the CoI.

He said that “after the tear smoke was thrown, it started to burn our eyes and skin, so we run to a small ventilated area and we start calling for help…but we haven’t got any response from outside sir. The fire eventually grew bigger and bigger and took over the whole cell causing some of the inmates to be badly burnt up. I eventually ran to the front entrance calling for help. The door was not open as yet then I saw the hole on the wall with some fire still blazing around it and I eventually made my escape through there and receiving burns to my lower abdomen.”

“When I came out in the capital B division and I walked down the step and I fell down. That is all.”

The inmate claimed that the prison officers did not attempt to extinguish the fire and that approximately 25 prisoners were locked in the dormitory at the time of the fire.

The Commission asked: “Did you at all see any attempt by the administration attempting to put out fire?” In response, Lewis said, “No Sir.”

According to Lewis, prior to the fire, some 40 prisoners were escorted out of the division in a peaceful manner, while others behaved disorderly, claiming that they were beaten by prison officers with a baton.

Lewis said that he saw one prisoner, whom he identified as Collis Collison, beaten to a state of unconsciousness by a prison officer. The CoI continues and more prisoners are expected to testify.

Camp St jail CoI… After fire started, prisoner recalls hearing ‘lock the door and let them die in there’

By Ariana Gordon, March 11, 2016, http://guyanachronicle.com/cam...t-them-die-in-there/

Murder accused Dwayne Lewis providing his testimony yesterday before the Commission of Inquiry.

PRISONER Dwayne Lewis, the first prisoner to give evidence to the recently-established Commission of Inquiry into the Georgetown Prison riots which resulted in the fiery death of 17 prisoners last week, has said that six canisters of tear gas were lobbed into Division ‘A’ of the Camp Street Penitentiary by unknown sources.Lewis told the three-man Commission, comprising Justice James Patterson, Dale Erskine and Merle Mendonca, that the fire stated in the middle section of the jail though he could not state why it was started and by whom.

“I can’t say why the fire was started,” Lewis said, responding to questions from Commissioner Erskine who led the questioning yesterday.

“LOCK THE DOOR”
Prior to the fire being set, Lewis and other prisoners were instructed to leave Capital ‘A’ division and while he was packing his belongings, he heard someone say “lock the door.”

“When the first set of prisoners came out and they escorted them — is when they pass the order that let them lock the door and let them die in there,” he added.

Lewis could not state who passed the order to lock the door but said the prisoners pleaded with the officers to open the door but identified an officer whose only name was given as “Patterson” as the one who refused to open the door.

Recounting what transpired after the start of the fire, the prisoner said, “It started to smoke up the place, we began to apply for water to control the situation but after that some men was breaking a hole into the wall to separate A and B Division.”

After breaking the wall, the prisoners attempted to control the fire by using water but unfortunately there “wasn’t any water coming to the facility at that time.”

“After that six can with tear smoke was thrown into the building,” the man recounted. Asked how he knows it was six cans, Lewis said he counted the cans.

“After the tear smoke was thrown, it started to burn our eyes and skin, so we run to a small ventilated area and we start calling for help,” he said, noting that the prisoners got no response to their cries for help.

The six canisters of tear gas were thrown into the building through a hole that was five inches by five, Lewis added. The prisoner said there was poor ventilation at the prison facility making it difficult for prisoners to breathe.

“The fire eventually grew bigger and bigger and took over the whole cell causing some of the inmates to be badly burnt up. I eventually ran to the front entrance calling for help.” At that time the door was not open so Lewis ran to the hole in the wall which separates Capital ‘A’ from ‘B’ where he made good his escape though lightly scathed. He received burns to his lower abdomen. “When I came out in the capital ‘B’ division and I walked down the step and I fell down. That is all,” the prisoner recounted.

Lewis, a murder accused, has been imprisoned for eight months at the Camp Street penitentiary. Asked whether there was an attempt by anyone to douse the fire and open the door, the prisoner said, “none of these service was at the time present sir.”

Lewis could not state the number of prisoners who were able to escape through the hole but said, “I was the first person to come out… I was escorted through the front gate.” Approximately twenty-five prisoners remained in the dormitory after the door was locked, he added.

Asked by Commissioner Patterson whether he heard anybody give instructions for prison officers to deal with the fire, the murder accused said, “I could not say sir.”

Lewis noted that he did not observe any attempt by the prison administration to douse the fire. “While in the building I didn’t saw any attempt by the administration sir.”

The prisoner said upon instruction the prisoners, about forty of them, were being “escorted in a peaceful manner.” He was however quick to point out that some of the inmates became rowdy “because a certain officer was harassing prisoners who came out first.” Asked by the Commission to explain what he meant by “harassing”, Lewis replied, “Hitting them with these thing you call baton.” A fellow inmate, Collis Collison was badly beaten, Lewis said and fell unconscious.

“It was a prison warden who was harassing them when they went into the yard,” he said, though he was not in a position to identify the prison officer. “No sir, I couldn’t identify them sir.”

Meanwhile, Lewis in his testimony told Commissioners that the prisoners seemed displeased by the move by the prison officers to seize their mobile devices and other illegal items during a search of the facility on March 2.

CONTRABAND FIND
“I may not know how they felt but you could see it in their face what took place that day,” the inmate said.

He said that around 3:30 pm two large margarine buckets containing illicit items were removed from Capital ‘A’. “They came out with two large margarine buckets…some with cell phones. They were filled with cell phones. Some had cell phones and leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be marijuana.”

The discovery of the contraband was made by prison officers who were assisted by ranks of the Guyana Police Force.
In an effort to justify the displeasure of his fellow inmates, Lewis said mobile phones and marijuana provide a level of comfort for the prisoners.

He explained that in the case of the phones, prisoners are denied regular phone calls to their loved ones. They are only afforded that option “when something happens like what happens last week.” “They have to get them cause it wouldn’t be comfortable for them to serve their prison time…,” the inmate said as Commissioners asked him to explain. Asked by the Commissioners to state how phones enter the penitentiary, Lewis declined.

“I can’t say that part sir, even if I want to say that part I would not say that part,” he stated. The prisoner proffered that while mobile phones are prohibited, it is not necessary for the prison officers to seize all. “If you come to search and you find ten cellphone at least you can take six and leave four,” he stated.

Many prisoners, he said, depended on those who had mobile devices to call their relatives and friends on a daily basis.

Asked how often searches are conducted at the Camp Street jail, Lewis said searches are usually done every three months but there was a long delay before last week’s search. He noted that for the past five searches that were conducted ranks of the Guyana Police Force assisted. “The Guyana Police Force would come and join in to give a hand to conduct the search,” he said.

WEAPONS
Lewis added that all weapons were seized on March 2 along with the other illicit items, while noting that there was no fighting by inmates. According to the prisoner, “They had none. I was there all the time, they had no fighting.”

He acknowledged that prisoners were in possession of cutlasses prior to the riots. Asked whether the cutlasses or sharp instruments were “homemade”, Lewis replied, “I won’t call that homemade, I would call it prison-made because it is made in prison.” He said prisoners often arm themselves with cutlasses for protection.

“Sir because you and a man might have a talking and you might feel it finish and when you go to sleep he may inflict injuries so you always got to have yuh thing by your side.”

He said he “never had a chance” to have cutlasses in his possession as he is a “very peaceful person.” Lewis accepted that the searching of the Divisions by the prison authorities is intended to make the environment safe and comfortable. He said too that he feels safe in his Division. “Yes sir, I don’t have time to focus on wrong doing. The only weapon I have is my Quran sir; I focus on God all the time sir.”

CROWDED
Asked to describe the space within the Division, Lewis said it is crowded, noting that there are insufficient mattresses. “When I first go in there I slept about two months on the floor without mattress. My division is so overcrowded eight to nine prisoners sleeping on the floor without mattress,” he added.

He said he secured a mattress after another inmate was removed from the facility. He said several complaints were made to the prison authority about his discomfort sleeping on the floor.

“The first time when I was sleeping on the floor, I made about eight complaints to the administration…I had to wait until an inmate got bail to get a mattress to be comfortable. I had no other complaints after then to make to the administration.”

He said he wishes if the food provided to prisoners would be better prepared. Lewis said it is also his desire to see the cooks properly clad in clean clothing.

“Should be more clean like sir…some of these men working in the kitchen their clothes should be more clean…not a healthy part on behalf of the prison administration.” Meals would often time be served with “black pot” inside of it, he lamented.

He also believes that prisoners should be able to contact their relatives four times a month.

Lewis was placed in the Camp Street facility in August 2015 and was committed to stand trial on February 19 this year.

Looks like state sponsored mass murder. Ow! Only under this PNC dictatorship this can happen without GT being burnt to the ground.

skeldon_man posted:

Looks like state sponsored mass murder. Ow! Only under this PNC dictatorship this can happen without GT being burnt to the ground.

Dem want change, well ah change dem skont get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nehru posted:

skeldon_man posted:

Looks like state sponsored mass murder. Ow! Only under this PNC dictatorship this can happen without GT being burnt to the ground.

Dem want change, well ah change dem skont get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHERE ARE THE BLACK PEOPLE? WHY ARE THEY NOT CONDEMNING THIS BARBARIC ACT? Is black on black violence ok under the PNC was bad under the PPP?

He see death I wonder if he think his vitimins that he kill was seeing death