Winston Hinds, a 26-year-old prisoner on remand at the Timehri Prison for the alleged murder of 44-year-old Richard Remington of Lot 19 Christianburg Linden — which allegedly occurred at Cholmondeley Hill, Wismar in the mining community of Linden — is now dead after a Prison Officer thwarted his bid to escape from the prison late Friday afternoon by shooting him dead.
Director of Prisons, Galdwin Samuels, has detailed that at about 17:00h on Friday, Hinds was involved in a fight with other inmates in the dormitory of the Timehri Prison, where several prisoners were involved in a serious physical altercation and assault in which they were using improvised weapons.
Officers tried to break up the fight and restore order, and whilst they were thus engaged, Hinds fled into the prison yard in an apparent bid to escape. Clear and repeated orders were issued for Hinds to desist in his escape bid, but he refused in every instance, and continued running, leaving Prison officers with no option but to curtail his escape bid.
Samuels said that curtailing Hinds’s escape bid necessitated the use of live rounds as a last resort, and Hinds was struck on the body by a single round. He was immediately taken to the East Bank Demerara Hospital Complex at Diamond, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Samuels said that the prisoner’s next of kin was immediately informed, and the Police are conducting an investigation.
“The GPS will also reiterate its internal calls to all prisoners to conduct themselves responsibly, to resist any temptation to escape from lawful custody, to obey the instructions of prison officers at all times, and to serve their sentences as mandated by the courts until such time as they are eligible for release,” the Guyana Prison Service has said in a press statement.
