By Leroy Smith

Deputy Director of Prisons, Senior Superintendent Gladwin Samuels has been sent on leave with immediate effect.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that Samuels received the order from a senior official and will remain off the job for six weeks.

The prisoners this morning while speaking with Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan accused Samuels of ordering the deaths of the prisoners who were killed during a fire at the Camp Street prison on  Thursday.

They claimed that Samuels passed instructions to junior ranks to leave the men inside the burning cell. However, some prison officials have since denied this.

The Government has announced Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances which caused the riot, which left 17 prisoners dead and others injured.