More contraband found at Lusignan Prison

Another routine search at the Lusignan Prison on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) on Saturday morning unearthed more contraband items.
The two-hour exercise was conducted jointly by ranks from the Guyana Police Force and the Prison Service in Holding Bays One, Two and Three of the East Coast penitentiary.
The following prohibited items were discovered during the search: 44 improvised weapons; 11 razor blades; 20 construction nails; six lighters; one pack bamboo; one smoking utensil; three cellphones; eight phone chargers; two cellphone batteries; one phone display; 40 Guyana dollars; and three bottles of wine.
Saturday’s raid came on the heels of a similar exercise carried out on December 7 last at the same facility were a quantity of contraband items were found and seized. These include: four small plastic containing a quantity of cannabis; 10 lighters: four improvised weapons; 30 razor blades; nine needles; a pair of scissors; a piece of broken glass; two metal nails; three geometry set compasses; one metal spoon; two cellphone batteries; six cellphones; five earphones; seven chargers; five sim cards; two memory cards, and a quantity of wires.
Contraband smuggling has long been a perennial problem within the prison system and this is compounded by the fact that both prison and Police Officers are facilitating the illegal trade, which is said to be a “big business”.
While the authorities have been struggling to curb the illegal practice, there has been a breakthrough in the apparent network among rogue prison officers. In fact, only in October, four prison officers were arrested after they smuggled a bottle of rum and a pack of cigarettes into the Lusignan Prison the weekend prior. These officers were subsequently charged and interdicted from duty.
In addition, another two ranks found themselves in hot waters following the discovery of illegal items at two separate prison facilities.
In Berbice, 1032 grams of suspended marijuana and 39 packs of cigarettes was found in the New Amsterdam Prison and a prison officer had admitted to conspiring with inmates to hide the contradband that was thrown over the fence.
Meanwhile, another prison officer at the Timehri penitentiary was taken into custody after he was implicated by an inmate regarding the presence of 584 grams of marijuana in the compound.
Furthermore, five other prison officers were relieved of their duties back in July after they were fingered in an incident whereby a parcel containing cannabis had been thrown into the Lusignan Prison Holding Bay area.
Director of Prisons (ag) Gladwin Samuels had disclosed in September that so far for the year, some 28 Prison officers have been dismissed; 11 for facilitating or directly smuggling contrabands into the prisons system. The Prisons Director added that there are 12 ranks currently interdicted from duty, nine of whom have been charged either departmentally or criminally for trafficking-related activities.