Upgraded security systems for new Camp Street Prison

While there was already a security system in place at the time of the July 9, 2017 Camp Street Prison fire, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said on Monday that Government will be seeking to improve the system when the new holding buildings are constructed.

Speaking to journalists at a press conference at his Brickdam office, Ramjattan said “we plan to upgrade the security system for those who will be in the new brick prison and the infirmary and administrative buildings prefabricated as they are will come there. We will have to enhance the camera system and all the other security surveillance equipment,” he said.
Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said on Monday that at the time of the fire, systems were already in place. In fact, during the fire persons were on the ground upgrading the system, he told journalists.
Funding for the new security systems is included in the $756 million supplementary funding requested by Government for rehabilitative works to be carried out on both the Georgetown and Lusignan Prisons. Security at the Camp Street Prison will cost some $62 million.
Meanwhile, pressed about the whereabouts of the gun used in the shooting incident on the afternoon of the fire, Samuels said as far as he is aware, there is no information that shows where the prisoner got the handgun from. Up to this point also, the gun has not been retrieved.
“Because of the magnitude of the fire, I assume that the handgun could have been totally destroyed. The method also used to remove the debris could have also resulted in it being removed undetected. Efforts were made to comb the area to find the gun,” Samuels said.
Police are working on information obtained from several injured prison wardens that ex-officer, Uree Varswyk had used a gun to shoot four of them. Questions still linger about the events that led to prison warden Odinga Wickham’s shooting to death and the injuring of his colleagues.
Samuels revealed that it was ex-Police Officer and murder accused, Uree Varswyk who shot four of the injured officers.
Officer Jason Maltay was stationed in the Administrative building while officer Hubert Trim said he was beaten and stabbed about the body by prisoner Shawn Collins. He also confirmed that he was chopped by Bartica massacre convict Mark Royden Williams, who is also known as “Mark Durant” and “Smallie”.
The media was told that all four prison officers corroborated the account of the ex-Policeman shooting them.
Prison officers believe Williams was the mastermind of the riot which led to the escape of several prisoners from Camp Street; three of whom remain on the run. Another prisoner who was transferred to Lusignan remains on the run.
As it relates to the shortage of officers at the prison, efforts are being made to address the staffing situation. According to Samuels, the recruitment board has already interviewed a few persons but the training school is currently being used to house staff providing additional support at the Lusignan Prison. “It will be unfair for us to bring raw civilians off the road and put them there,” he said.