Ranks of the Joint Services on Saturday conducted a series of searches at the New Amsterdam and Mazaruni Prisons in addition to the holding bays at the Lusignan Prison, and found a number of prohibited items.
Police, in a statement, said that some 23 cellular phones, 16 phone chargers, 7 earpieces, 6 smoking utensils, 3 SIM cards, 1 memory card, 27 metal spoons, 2 metal plates, 48 lighters, a quantity of razor blades and construction nails, six batteries, a quantity of small-sized ziplock bags, 6 grams of cannabis, 1 pack bamboo, 2 pairs of scissors, one glass bottle, four bottles of locally made wine, a quantity of wires, 1 speaker, 1 whistle, 1 screwdriver, three mirrors, three nail clippers, one tweezer, one grater, one bottle nail polish, 10 empty tins, and 28 improvised weapons.
The searches were conducted between 05:00-10:40h and involved a total of 138 ranks.
Just Friday, the swift response by members of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) thwarted a plot by several inmates to break out of the Camp Street penitentiary.
Sometime after 10:00h on Friday, Prison Service personnel became aware of an attempt by some inmates to break out of the jail. Emergency alerts were sent out and ranks of both the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded.
Prisons Director Gladwyn Samuels confirmed that the incident took place, stating that he, along with other ranks, were interacting with prisoners in the security block of the Georgetown prison when they observed that several bars of a cell had been cut and secured with cloth.
According to a press release from Samuels, the Heads of Joint Services were alerted and the immediate search operation revealed that bars of another cell had also been cut. In addition, several hacksaw blades were discovered during the search.
The GPS Director pointed out that Safrei Alexander, an escapee from the July 9, 2017, prison break and Ryan Jones, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for manslaughter, are reportedly the masterminds in the escape bid.
