–massive hunt ongoing, ‘scrutinizing eyes’ guarding prisons — Ramjattan

A command centre has been established in Berbice to aid the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in combing the backlands in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), as the joint services continue their hunt for the remaining nine prison escapees.
“We need proper surveillance in the Berbice backlands because we have had a number of reports coming from that area,” said Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, during a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday.
The command centre is headed by the new Commander of ‘B’ Division, Paul Williams. It is an intelligence system that is equipped with adequate officers who will act immediately on information received. In the wee hours of Monday, 13 prisoners dug their way out of the Lusignan Prison within the Lusignan pasture, East Coast Demerara. However, police were able to recapture seven of them within 24 hours and another one early Wednesday morning.
Minister Ramjattan confirmed that a “massive” manhunt is on to capture those who are still on the run.
Those who remain on the run are: Clive Forde known as “El Sinkie”, Paul Goriah, Shawn Harris known as “Shawny”, Pascal Smith, Kerry Cromwell, Mark Royden Durant known as “Royden Williams and Smallie”, Stafrie Alexander Hopkinson, Uree Varswyck known as “Malcolm Gordon” and Cobena Stephens known as “OJ”.
Durant, Hopkinson, Varswyck and Stephens had escaped from the Georgetown Prison on July 9, following a fire which destroyed most of the prison buildings and which subsequently led to the relocation of the prisoners to the Lusignan pasture on the East Coast of Demerara.

As a result of the incident at Lusignan, eighty-five prisoners were transferred from the pasture to the Camp Street brick prison facility.
“When they were sent there, they started again with their bad behaviour… prisoners destroyed the beds and use the foot to break the brick wall,” said the Minister who pointed out that the prisoners’ efforts were in vain because of the strength of the wall.
Members of the joint services were able to bring the situation at the Camp Street Prison under control by engaging the prisoners and listening to their demands and concerns. Following those discussions, the officials of the prison allowed families to provide self-support for their relatives who are imprisoned.
Minister Ramjattan pointed out that the meals from relatives have helped in calming the inmates down.

“I hope they stop behaving the way they do… as was explained to them by senior officers, it is in their best interest that they be more disciplined,” he said while adding that the joint services are doing their part to instill discipline into them.
One of the methods that was employed was to sanitise the prison. Several phones and illegal weapons were recovered during that process. Frequent checks will be done to ensure that the prison is free of contraband, said Ramjattan.
When asked if all systems are in place to ensure that another prison break is avoided, he said security has been ramped up at every holding facility around the country.
“We have all systems in place to ensure that there is not another prison break…we said that the last time and still 13 prisoners managed to escape, but this time around we will have scrutinising eyes around the prisons,” said the Minister.
These methods are however temporary, given that the government is looking to construct a new prison. According to Ramjattan, this will however take a year or two to finalise.
In the meantime, the Minister appealed to members of the public, relatives and friends to give any relevant information as to the whereabouts of the escapees so that they can be captured and returned to the prison.