…had shunned portable toilet for outhouse

THE 13 prisoners who escaped from the Lusignan Prison on Sunday night fled from the area via a five feet long conduit, which was dug in the vicinity of a make-shift toilet.

Five of the escapees have sine been recaptured. Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, told the media during a press briefing on Monday at the Ministry of Public Security, that personnel at a tower which is in the vicinity of the area were probably hampered by low visibility.

Samuels noted that the men may have fled around 01:00hrs-02:30hrs when it was raining heavily in the area. He explained that because some prisoners would have been uncomfortable in using the portable toilet facility provided at the pasture area where they were being held, he said that some of the men resorted to relieving themselves at an area where two fences converged in a “V” shape.

They had covered the area to avoid detection by the prison officials. At the opportune time, the men continued digging the hole until they were able to flee the prison.

“And how they do it, police nor soldiers nor the prison authority could have seen how it happen because they do it in an angle,” a police source told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday.

He said that a zinc sheet was erected in the area and according to him the earth in that area would have been soft as a result of inundation. On the outer part of the fence where the escape occurred, Samuels said there was some amount of grass which he posited may have provided coverage for the escapees. Samuels described the hole as being five feet in depth, stretching five feet in length, and another two feet on the outer portion of the hole where the men exited the area.

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan told the media that in light of the escape there will be increased monitoring of security on the outer perimeter to patrol the area.

The prisoners who escaped are: Tishan McKenzie, Winston Long, Kerry Cromwell, Pascal Smith, Odel Roberts, Kendell Skeete, Paul Goriah, Jamal Forde, Jamal Joseph, Rayon Jonas, Jason Howard and Shawn Harris. The men were discovered missing on Monday morning when a head count was made.

President David Granger and members of the National Security Committee (NSC) were on Monday briefed on the latest report of a prison break at the Lusignan Prison. The high-level committee was briefed by Director of Prisons, Mr. Gladwin Samuels and Heads of the Joint Services at the Joint Operations Centre.