Convicted narcotics trafficker escapes from Lusignan Prison

– manhunt launched by Police to recapture escapee

A former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank, who was sentenced for narcotics possession, escaped from the Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara (ECD), in the wee hours of Sunday.

The escapee has been identified as 24-year-old John Lambert of Lot 158 North Haslington, ECD, and had been serving a four-year sentence for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
Reports are that the convict escaped at about 03:39h on Sunday morning by scaling a fence on the south-eastern side of Holding Bay Three of the penitentiary. The Guyana Prison Service is currently collaborating with the Guyana Police Force to recapture the prisoner.
However, acting Director of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), Kevin Pilgrim told this publication that during the process of Lambert’s escape, a rank at the Operational Post of the prison spotted the convict and verbally warned him to desist but eventually had to engage the young man in order to prevent him from getting away. However, the rank’s attempts proved futile.
“A rank would have engaged him and had to discharge several rounds in that direction which actually raised an initial alarm. There is Police on standby right at Lusignan and you also have a Prison Task Force which complements that. When they would have heard the gunshot, they would have obviously responded not knowing exactly what they were responding to, all but they knew was that it was an emergency,” he explained.
Guyana Times was told that upon responding to the alarm that was raised, the teams automatically reverted to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for such cases.
“They managed to have picked up trails of the jersey, the general area that he was in but as you know, he is an ex-military person so he is more prone to have been tactical about his escape. It was not just wild and acted out of impulse, he would have been more precise based on what he is doing because that was exactly the case even for him escaping. It was very precise, he just used his training for not a good purpose today, but he will still make some mistakes too because once you take good training and try to put it to bad use you will make some mistakes”, Pilgrim added.
According to the Prison’s records, Lambert was incarcerated on Friday, April 5, 2019, following his appearance at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court, West Coast Demerara (WCD), for the offence of trafficking in cannabis (1456 grams).
He was sentenced to pay a fine of $30,000 as well as serve four years’ imprisonment. (Kristen Macklingam)