A prisoner currently being held at the Diamond Police Station lockups, East Bank Demerara reportedly set fire to the station after he was reportedly denied cigarettes.
This incident occurred sometime around 13:00h on Thursday. Commander of A Division Clifton Hicken confirmed the fire scorched a CCTV camera and two wooden doors at the facility.
According to Hicken, the inmate began making loud noises shortly after which ranks saw smoke emanating from the cell. The Guyana Fire Service was immediately called and the fire was subsequently contained. The Commander disclosed that ranks discovered that a cloth was placed over a CCTV camera and this is believed to be where the fire originated.
According to reports, family members and friends were at the time visiting those incarcerated at the station to deliver meals when the alarm of fire was raised. Meanwhile, the Police in a statement on the incident said
prisoners in the lockups at the Golden Grove Police Station, EBD, were taken out of their cells by the police for ablution purposes, at the conclusion of which three of them demanded cigarettes and refused to return to their cells after their request was denied. According to the Police, three prisoners began throwing faeces at police ranks during efforts to get them back into the cells and remained in the passageway behind the main door leading to the cells, which was locked. “Later at about 13:30h smoke was seen coming from the lockups
and the three prisonerswere seen with lit newspapers which they placed in the passage-way at the main door. The blaze which scorched two wooden doors and damaged a CCTV camera was extinguished and the three prisoners were subsequently replaced in their cells in the lockups,” the Police said in a statement. On March 3 inmates at the Camp Street penitentiary rioted
and set fire to mattresses and other flammable materials with which they had access. That riot caused the death of 17 prisoners. It is not yet clear which prisoner was able to start the
fire at Grove. The prisoners, whose identities were not disclosed, remain in custody as investigations continue.
