A PRISON officer and a prisoner have been jointly charged with introducing 851 grammes of cannabis sativa into the New Amsterdam Prison on January 4, 2013.
The duo, prison officer, Dexter Douglas and prisoner, Errol Bristol, denied the charge before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, and was remanded to the penitentiary until July 8 for trial.

Attorney-at-law, Mr. Murselene Bacchus in an unsuccessful bid to secure bail for his client, Douglas, said that the he was charged merely and solely on a statement made by the number two defendant, after his client allegedly went into the prison with two pails. However, during a review of the surveillance camera recording, Douglas was never seen entering the penal institution with any pails.
“He did not go to work with a pail”, the lawyer said. “What we have is an out-of-court assertion.”
However, according to court documents, the charge stemmed from a then prisoner, Clifton Ramsarran, who was seen with a bag, which was placed in the corner of the male dormitory of the prison. The bag was subsequently found and when opened, it contained a quantity of green Ziploc bags, a black plastic wrapped with brown masking tape in which there were 49 packs of Bristol cigarettes, along with a quantity of leaves, seeds, and stems, suspected to be portions of marijuana.
But, under caution, Ramsarran said he was in the prison yard when Prison Officer, Douglas gave him three five- gallon buckets at the inner gate to take into the kitchen to give to Errol Bristol. After complying with the order, he saw Douglas give the contents of the bucket, which was a dark blue bulky bag, to another prisoner, to hide. The bag, later found by Prison Officer Archer, revealed the illegal and prohibited substance.
Following police investigations, the file was sent to the director of public prosecutions who ordered that charges be laid.