PUBLIC Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has announced that a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) will be held into the fire and riot that flattened Camp Street Prison last Sunday.

The public security minister made the disclosure during a debriefing exercise with Opposition parliamentarians held at Public Buildings on Friday.

According to the Department of Public Information (DPI, Ramjattan along with Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud and Prisons Director, Gladwin Samuels provided a full briefing on the fire at the Georgetown Prison to Opposition members.

The Opposition parliamentarians were also briefed on the actions taken by the government and the security services in securing and housing the transferred prisoners and other related matters, the DPI said.

The Opposition team led by Clement Rohee and which included Juan Edghill, Bheri Ramsarran and Harry Gill, asked a number of questions and these were addressed by Ramjattan and his team.

Minister Ramjattan said a CoI will be held on the Camp Street incident and there will be additional opportunities to examine the responses of the disciplined forces.

The Opposition team also made some suggestions which the government team acknowledged had some merit and will be considered and the government undertook to have an updated brief as soon as additional information is available.

Meanwhile, thus far, three of the eight prisoners who escaped the riot and inferno have been recaptured.

On Friday, Desmond James, one of the prison escapees was arrested on a dam at Canal Number 1 Polder, West Bank Demerara.

With James being arrested, the five now on the run are: Mark Royden Durant called Royden Williams or “Smallie”, Uree Varswyck known as Malcolm Gordon, Stafrei Hopkinson Alexander, Cornelius Thomas and Cobena Stephens, called “OJ”.

Police believe that the first four mentioned are travelling together.

The Georgetown Prison, which was built to accommodate 600, was holding 1,018 inmates at the time of the fire. But after fire ripped through the correctional facility that day, authorities were forced to relocate more than 1000 of them to a walled field neighbouring the Lusignan Prison on the East Coast.

For much of Friday there was heavy police presence in Victoria, East Coast Demerara where it is believed some of the escapees might be hiding out.

A Guyana Defence Force (GDF) helicopter provided aerial cover while ground troops patrolled the forested backlands. Ranks are convinced that the men might be lurking somewhere in the area.

Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan said every effort is being made to recapture the escapees – all of whom are murder accused and/or convicts.

“The Joint Services will be doing their best to hunt them down and bring them in,” the minister said.

A similar assurance was given by Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud, who shared that the Joint Services is conducting several operations to recapture the escapees.

“… at a Joint Services level, we have embarked on several operations which are consistent with the plan,” he said. That plan which he referenced, is an operational plan developed by the Joint Services to be presented to the National Security Committee.

The objectives of the plan are to ensure security of the prisoners; security of the prisons; to recapture the other five escapees; and to restore order in the prisons.
According to Persaud, that operation, along with the others, is intelligence-led.

Persons with information on the whereabouts of the escapees are asked to contact the nearest police station. It is a criminal offence to harbour fugitives.