By Shauna Jemmott

AS the Commission of Inquiry into the Georgetown Prison riots continued yesterday, prisoner Steve Bacchus recounted that while he was among the first to enter the burnt Capital A block on March 3 after the deadly fire had eased, he observed a single burnt skull on a mattress, but it was severed from the prisoner’s body.

Bacchus is the prisoner who has ben credited by other prison witnesses with breaking out of his own cell on the Old Capital block to rescue those who were still alive in the burning Capital A dormitory. He testified for the first time before the CoI yesterday.

A fire which was lit during a massive three-day prison riot ended the lives of 17 inmates and injured at least three others within the Capital A block of the Georgetown Prisons on March 3.

“I see a skull on a bed frame,” Bacchus told the Commission of Inquiry. Bacchus made the disclosure under cross-examination by Joint Services Counsel Selwyn Pieters. He said he was at the time alone in the building after his other assistants had gone downstairs with the last man who had been rescued alive. He said he observed the burnt skull while searching for his friend Germaine Otto, called ‘Fungus’, whom he had already realised was dead after his rescue mission proved that Otto was not among the survivors he and other prisoners had pulled from the building.
Only three of the dead prisoners — Ashraf Ali, Randolph Marques and Anthony Primo — were recognisable at the time, as the others were burnt beyond recognition, and none of the three was his close friend.

‘BURNT OFF’
After Pieters suggested to him that the dead prisoner’s head might have been chopped off, the witness said he does not believe the man was beheaded by another inmate, but that his head could have been burnt off instead.

He said he was at a window in the old Capital moments before, when he observed smoke emanating from the Capital A building. When he heard prisoners “hollering for help”, he did not realise they were serious; but after the cries became incessant, he began paying more attention and noticed the blaze.

Bacchus said he began shouting to officers who were in the compound to “Let us go” and put the fire out, and after he realised an officer was not able to open the front door of Capital A with a chainsaw, he and other prisoners broke out of the Old Capital dormitory and ran to the rescue of their trapped inmates.

He said he had asked the prison officer what happened to the chainsaw after he observed that though the saw was working, it could not cut the door lock open, and he replied that the blade was dull.

RESCUE
Bacchus called for the prisoners as he passed each of the four windows, but heard no answer until he reached the back door along the southern corridor, where he observed Michael Lewis and other prisoners panting for breath. He then alerted the prison officers that men were still alive on the block, and an officer immediately ran past him with keys and attempted to open the back door. That failed, and as prisoners assisted officers in opening the front door, thus the rescue began.

Bacchus said he and other prisoners were not directed by officers to bring out the inmates, but they did it “just went off our own free will.”
He said he and other inmates first pulled Rayon Paddy from the room and took him straight to the stretcher into the ambulance, after they observed that he had already suffered burns and was “breathing slowly”. They were assisted by officers who made the way for them to take the then injured Paddy out.

He cannot recall who was the second victim rescued, but remembers holding up Marcellus Verbeke while he walked out the block with burns. Officers and prisoners collected Verbeke from him, and it was then that he returned inside the block and began to cry.

Back inside the building, he saw Owen Belfield in a kneeling position and he cleared the area, removing beds while two other inmates on the rescue team lifted him out. Belfield complained that he was burnt to his side, and was at the time “just panting for breath” the witness testified.

When he returned inside the block alone, he said, “I was looking to see if I could make out my friend ‘Fungus’…to see which one of the bodies was ‘Fungus’ own,” Belfield told the CoI. Upon doing so, he saw more than nine bodies in one corner at the front of the building, while one was flat and partly out the opened door.

He saw the lifeless bodies of Ally in the toilet and Marques inside the bathroom. Primo was in the front part of the building, while Shaka McKenzie was face down on Primo’s leg.

The prisoner expressed concern that the prison officers did not assist the prisoners while many of them had gathered at the front inside the burning building crying for help. While the lawyers suggested that the prison officers took their own safety into consideration first, the prisoner said taking the profession of the prison officers into consideration, “they should be concerned for everybody’s safety.”

He said that although the officers had shields and some were armed with guns, they stood in the yard while prisoners broke their cells to save the helpless inmates.

REBELLION
Though he admitted the situation which led to the disaster could be termed a massive rebellion, with prisoners all around the prison chanting against the prison officers for assaulting a prisoner, Collis Collison, he said that should not have prevented the officers from saving the men, who were at that moment desperate for their lives.

“They would not assault anybody… At that point in time they would glad fuh anybody come and save them, even a lil baby,” the prisoner stated.

PILGRIM HAILED
Meanwhile, the witness praised the efforts of Officer-in-Charge Kevin Pilgrim in making life better within the walls of the penitentiary in the short time he was placed in that position. He said that while Director of Prisons Carl Graham is also doing a great job, there was something admirable about the way Pilgrim operates.

Bacchus said he saw Pilgrim and another prison officer whose name he gave as ‘Charles’ assisting inmates who were injured in the fire on March 3.

“Mr. Pilgrim, who is the present OC, since he turned the OC of the prison, I don’t know if it was an act of impulse or if it was a strategy he came with, but the prison is running kinda smooth,” the prisoner stated. He said he has been impressed with the new prison boss giving prisoners new opportunities and privileges with more involvement in sports, a lot of activities going on. “He had a lot of classes conducted.”

OVERPOPULATION
“The strategy he was using, he had the jail at a calm level,” the prisoner said, adding that prior to March 2, the prison had been incident-free and without fights.
Bacchus said that although Pilgrim and Director Carl Graham were attentive to prisoners’ needs, overpopulation is still an issue within the central penitentiary.

“More beds is needed because presently the prison is getting overpopulated.” In the old Capital in some cases, two prisoners sleep on one bed, he disclosed. This overpopulation has resulted in more quarrels, since individuals are uncomfortable with others touching them.

He also pointed out that many less fortunate people become part of the jail population “and they does pick up people stuff.”

Asked if he is satisfied with the food at prison, Bacchus responded, “I don’t complain because whatever comes I still gatto rap with it.”

Under re-examination by the Commission’s Counsel, Excellence Dazzell, Bacchus said ever since he has been a prisoner at the Camp Street jail, the standards there have risen “a bit” since Pilgrim was placed there as OC.

He said that when Pilgrim assumed leadership, the prison started to “run smooth” and prisoners get an opportunity to speak with the new OC more regularly than in the past, and he would try his best to address prisoners’ matters.

He said Pilgrim also ensured that prisoners engage in games and other activities, and more programmes have been introduced into the prison for the benefit of prisoners.

Bacchus told the Commission that prisoners are usually searched thoroughly for illegal items before entering the prison.

SMUGGLING PHONES
He said mobile phones are in prison, and explained that for the phones to get into the prisoners’ hands, sometimes “people does bomb it” or throw it over the fence, and sometimes the “officers would bring it” through smuggling, “maybe if they are paid to do so.”

According to the prisoner, lighting of fires in the prison is nothing new, since there have been fires which have been put out by prison officers.

Prisoners light fires because they want to have their cases heard before the court, or because they were being victimized by the police or magistrates, or were wrongfully charged.

He said that in such cases, when the fire officers put the fire out, the prisoners would get an opportunity to speak to the officer-in-charge or other prison officials. However, sometimes the prisoner’s problem is beyond the control of the officer-in-charge, and needs the attention of other officials.

As much as the prison officials could do, they would try to do, the prisoner said, and he observed that when officers come, if the prisoners complain of needing beds, the officers would provide those beds if they can.