By Svetlana Marshall
“INTIMIDATION now is the order of the day,” Officer-in- Charge of the Georgetown Prison, Senior Superintendent Kevin Pilgrim yesterday told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Camp Street riot, adding that all is not well at the jailhouse.Superintendent Pilgrim was at the time responding to questions raised yesterday by Commissioner Dale Erskine, a former prisons director, during the ongoing CoI at the Department of Public Service. The other members of the Commission are its Chairman, Justice (retd) James Patterson and human rights activist Merle Mendonca.

STRONGER GANG CULTURE

The massive shortage of prison officers at the penitentiary does not help the situation, he said. “There is a…stronger gang culture now more than ever and as it is, that poses problems in itself,” the Officer-in-Charge of the Camp Street Prison said.

As of February 29, 2016, the Georgetown Prison population, according to Superintendent Pilgrim, stood at 1,014 inmates, 413 of whom were convicts. The remaining 601 were on remand.

‘TIMID’
With a population of approximately 1,000 inmates and an increase in the number of gangs, Superintendent Pilgrim said prison officers are now “timid”.
Erskine’s final question to Superintendent Pilgrim was: “Have you gone back to the state of normalcy within the prison?” and in response he responded in the negative.

Late last week, the Joint Services took control of the penitentiary after 13 prison officers reported sick. President David Granger had also instructed that the outer cordons of the prison be extended to include D’urban, John and Bent Streets, which are currently blocked off to the public except for those persons residing within those areas, as is done on Camp Street.

While the situation may not have returned to normalcy, Director of Prisons Carl Graham has recently assured that security at the prison is under control, even as he refuted claims that the prisoners had taken control of the penitentiary. However, he admitted that inmates were more agitated than usual, but he assured that they had not taken control.

Pilgrim then recounted the March 3 occurrences. While being cross-examined by the Guyana Prison Service Attorney Selwyn Pieters, Superintendent Pilgrim, who has not had a single day off since March 2, recounted the occurrences which led to the worst prison riot in the history of Guyana. The March 3 riot resulted in the deaths of 17 inmates, leaving many prisoners and prison officers traumatised until today.

Around 08:00hrs, the Officer-in-Charge reported for duty and subsequently conducted a joint operation with the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service with the primary goal of sanitising the prison of any contraband. During that search, Superintendent Pilgrim recalled that a number of illegal items were retrieved, including cellphones, narcotics, cigarettes and improvised weapons.

It was clear that the prisoners were not pleased with the operation that was undertaken, he said, and as such, he visited the Capital Divisions, particularly the Capital ‘A’ Division, where he spoke to a number of concerned prisoners.

The inmates had reportedly complained bitterly about the manner in which their belongings were treated during the search. But this was just the tip of the iceberg, Superintendent Pilgrim said, as the prisoners used the opportunity to voice their dissatisfaction about the protracted remand period while awaiting trial.

DPP BLAMED

Others were reportedly of the opinion that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP) was the sole reason for them being in prison and being victimised.
Upon hearing their concerns, he assured them that their concerns had been raised at a higher level. The Officer-in-Charge said he left for home around 19:00hrs, but was forced to return to the Camp Street Prison around 21:35hrs after being informed that some prisoners had lit sections of the prison afire.

“I was a bit confused in a sense, because knowing that I would have visited that division hours before and…gave them my commitment that I would have dealt with some of the issues at my level,” he said.
Turning his attention to March 3, Superintendent Pilgrim said it was upon the extraction of Collis Collison that some of the prisoners became agitated and began hurling threats at the extraction team. In response, they were instructed by the Officer-in-charge to “conduct themselves.”
“At that time I heard the breaking of the partition wall…and it then caused me to shift into another gear, because I knew it had the potential of getting out of hand,” he told the Commission.
Knowing that the Capital A Division was not receptive at the time, Pilgrim said he attempted to establish control in other Divisions, including ‘C’ and ‘B’.

“My first decision was to remove them out of that area (Division C), so as to reduce the numbers that I would have to deal with, knowing that if there should be any further escalation, at least my numbers I would have to deal with would be few,” he recalled.

According to Pilgrim, he was assured by the prisoners in that block that they were “ok” and were not a part of what was transpiring at the time.
Standing on the catwalk, he, in a firm tone, instructed the prisoners in Capital B Division to exit the area when the door is opened if they were not a part of the protest. Though they were hecklers in the midst, he posited that there were some who were receptive.
After passing the instruction, the Officer-in-Charge said he proceeded “downstairs,” subsequent to which the cordon was established. There he also met Deputy Director of Prisons, Senior Superintendent Gladwin Samuels and according to the Superintendent, an instruction was passed for the officers to be armed. He then equipped himself with his service pistol in keeping with the SOPs.

“It was basically to create a presence…and to establish a show of force,” he told the Commission.
Still taking a lead role, Superintendent Pilgrim in the company of the Deputy Director of Prisons returned to the Capital B Division where a second warning was issued. After instructing an officer to open the door to that division, Superintendent Pilgrim and team proceeded down the stairs.

BIG STONES
“Half way down the stairs a big stone came through the door followed by many others,” he said, noting that as a result the catwalk door was closed, but the division door remained opened.
“FIRE! FIRE!”
Though it took some time, the prisoners from the Capital B Division were evacuated and the area sanitised. It was while he was in the prison yard, the Superintendent said he heard shouts of “Fire! Fire!”
He was later informed that there was a fire between the partition wall that divides Divisions A and B. The fire was subsequently extinguished and the prisoners removed. He had also used the opportunity to communicate with the other inmates that they should be calm.

TOO LATE
However, a subsequent fire was lit, and that reportedly grew out of control. Attempts were made to extract the prisoners from the Capital A Division but the prison officer was unable to open the door. Superintendent Pilgrim recalled that several attempts were made to open the door, even with the use of a disc cutter, but to no avail. Capital B Division’s door was opened with the hope that the trapped prisoners would have existed through the hole in the partition wall, but no one did during the raging fire. By the time the door to Division A was opened and the fire extinguished, many of the prisoners were already dead.