WHILE Berbice Police await the results of the autopsy to determine the cause of convicted prisoner Melvin Smartt’s death,  his father, Aubrey Smartt told Guyana Chronicle he needs to know  the truth.

Speaking outside the New Amsterdam Hospital mortuary, in Berbice, yesterday morning, the man recalled receiving a message from his neighbour informing him of his son’s demise.
He said: “The phone call came to my neighbour on Sunday. She said my son hanged himself. I did not believe he did that. One of my daughters went to see the body before it was taken to the mortuary and she said he had a sheet around his neck.”
The father of nine said he last saw the now dead son two weeks ago, when the latter informed him that he was assigned to the Prison Garden.
“He appeared well to me. He did not look disturbed,” the man stated.
However, the retired cane harvester recalled that his son was an imbiber of narcotic substances which resulted in him being hospitalized, briefly, at the National Psychiatric Hospital.
His incarceration was as a result of him throwing stones at the glass door of Lennox Benjamin, at Courtland Village, Corentyne.

PLEADED GUILTY
Melvin Smartt had appeared before Magistrate Fabio Azore at Albion Court, Corentyne, on July 31, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Meanwhile, this newspaper was reliably informed that the prisoner was placed in a cell on the second landing of the male section, and about 06:00 hrs on Sunday, September 30, an officer, who would routinely, opened the dormitory to allow inmates to empty their body waste containers and relieve themselves. The men had returned to their respective cells while the officer continued to secure other blocks with inmates.
It was reported that a prisoner, convicted of escaping from the New Amsterdam Prison in 2007, was assigned as an orderly and he alerted the staff to Smartt’s hanging.
Smartt was found with a piece of green and white cloth tied around his neck and attached to a post in the cell.
In a press release, Director of Prisons Dale Erskine said New Amsterdam Police are investigating the death of Smartt, who was found dead in his cell at approximately 07:20hrs on Sunday, September 30.
Preliminary investigations have, so far, revealed that the prisoner, who was the lone occupant of his cell, was unlocked at approximately 06:45hrs to do his ablutions. He returned inside and, shortly after, the supervising rank on duty was alerted by other prisoners, to some unusual noise coming from Smartt’s cell. The rank, immediately, rushed there and observed that the prisoner was hanging from a piece of cloth, He was cut down right away and the medical officer, who was summoned, recognised that the prisoner was not breathing and the police were summoned to investigate.
Prisoner Smartt had been admitted to the New Amsterdam Prison on July 31, having been sentenced to serve six months imprisonment for the offence of unlawful and malicious damage to property. He was due to be discharged on December 1.
The 24-year-old, who resided at Number One Village, Corentyne, was classified as an emotionally disturbed person and a post mortem examination on his corpse is to be conducted tomorrow.