THE Deputy Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, has denied claims by Timehri residents that a prisoner was beaten, threatened and placed in solitary confinement.Personally investigating the report, Samuels said he visited the Timehri Prison and spoke to the prisoner, Ramchand Parmasadin, who explained the scenario that occurred Sunday last.

Samuels said the prisoner, who was part of a batch of inmates who were dispatched Sunday last as part of the prison’s programme.

He explained that the prisoner in question was at a worksite where he was caught by an officer in the washroom with 3.1grams of marijuana – this was subsequently weighed inside the prison.

“He ball up half of the weed and decided to keep half in his pocket,” Samuels said the prisoner related to him when questioned.

He said the officer who spotted the prisoner’s illegal actions immediately tried to confiscate the prohibited article and the prisoner resisted.

This, he said, caused a scuffle between the two. The director said this was the only occasion where there was any act of violence and the inmate then surrendered the piece of narcotic.

“The officer conducted a search on the prisoner and found the remainder of the narcotic in his pants pocket; this amounted to 3.1grams when weighed,” the Deputy Director noted.

He explained that the prisoner was then escorted to the front of the building where the works were being done and he was placed to sit on a bench.

When the other prisoners learned of what transpired, Samuels said they threatened Ramchand Parmasadin, accusing him of making their lives hard with the trouble he had caused.

Mr Samuels said as a result of the threats, Parmasadin told him he became fearful for his wellbeing because the inmates said they will “break his bones.” Fearful, Samuels related that the prisoner sprinted across the road from the worksite where he disappeared into the clump of bushes.

When a search was carried out by the prison warden and other prisoners jointly, they could not locate Parmasadin.

Samuels said that when the search party left the area, a Cadet Prison Officer in a car discovered Parmasadin at the Linden/Soesdyke junction. The Cadet Officer then ordered the prisoner to get into the vehicle to which he complied.

He was then taken into the officer’s custody then back to Timehri Prison. “The prisoner gave a statement of what happened and he was removed from one dormitory and placed in another.”

Samuels said the prisoner upon his return to incarceration was never beaten and there were no marks of violence on his body, and to this the prisoner can attest.

However, according to the previous report a prison warden on Sunday reportedly threatened to kill an inmate of the Timehri prison after the prisoner was accused of trying to escape while working at Sugrim Residence, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (ECD), residents said.

According to reports, three prison wardens booked out prisoner Ramchand Parmasadin on Sunday to work outside the prison compound.

The prisoner who is serving a two-year sentence was carried to Soesdyke where he was ordered to pack a container with coals.

It was further reported that the prisoner who was eventually left unsupervised decided to leave his worksite. The warden found him sitting on a bench at the Soesdyke junction and he was taken back to the prison beaten and threatened.