— prisoners at Lusignan to move to more habitable facility today
PUBLIC Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said the newly tarmacked holding area at the Lusignan Prison Complex is almost ready and the handing over will be done today.
Following the handing over, the prisoners will be transferred from the current open-air holding area to the newly constructed facility, the Department of Public Information (DPI) said in a release.
Minister Ramjattan on Sunday visited the Lusignan Prison complex to get an on-site update on the works. The completion of the works on the tarmacked holding area was delayed as a result of persistent inclement weather in recent days.
The new holding area has been tarmacked and roofed and will temporarily house approximately 450 prisoners who were transferred from the Georgetown Prison which was destroyed by fire two Sundays ago.
The transfer is seen by observers as timely. Last Friday, prison officials confirmed that prisoners attempted to set fire to the Lusignan Prison after they reportedly accessed fuel from a generator at the facility.
Police and fire fighters acted immediately and extinguished the fire around 02:00hrs on Friday. Prison officials had told this newspaper that a round was discharged to simmer the situation and reports are a prisoner was grazed by the bullet.
The prisoners were upset at the flooded conditions of the walled area in which they are being housed. Security has since been increased at the prison and its environs.
On Friday morning, relatives of the inmates expressed dissatisfaction at a move by the prison authorities to not issue self-support cards, which are usually given to them in order to take food and clothing for their confined relatives.
Following the Camp Street Prison fire which destroyed most of the facility two Sundays ago, over 1000 prisoners were forced to join their Lusignan colleagues.
Meanwhile, works are continuing at the brick prison building at the Georgetown Prison and another area which was not destroyed by the fire.
These two buildings will house a total of 350 prisoners at the Georgetown Prison location, further reducing the number of prisoners who are being held at Lusignan.
To date, over 400 prisoners in total have been transferred to the New Amsterdam, Mazaruni and Timehri Prisons.
At the time of the Camp Street fire, eight prisoners escaped, but three have been recaptured thus far.
Those still 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.”
