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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style='font-size: 14pt'>'It Stinks!'</span>
Police question mysterious escape of two prisoners
KARYL WALKER & HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporters
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
FELICE. it doesn't feel right
ASSISTANT Commissioner Justin Felice yesterday stopped just short of blaming the police for Saturday's mysterious escape of two dangerous prisoners while they were being transported in a truck from the New Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston to Montego in St James.
"It stinks and it doesn't feel right. We are investigating this matter," said Felice, head of the Jamaica Constabulary's Anti-Corruption Branch.
The escape of the two prisoners - Orlando Minto and Zetroy Jones - was also being investigated by the newly formed Inspector General's Office, headed by Deputy Commissioner Charles Scarlett.
"The Inspector General's office will check out the administrative aspects of the case," the force's communication director Karl Angell said yesterday.
Remandees are usually handcuffed to each other before being loaded into a vehicle designed specifically to transport prisoners. The vehicles are fitted with compartments which can each accommodate several prisoners. Each compartment and the main door at the back of the truck are usually locked before the vehicle leaves the premises.
It was not clear, however, if these procedures were followed in Saturday's transport of the prisoners.
Felice yesterday admitted that he was at loss to fathom how two men, handcuffed to each other, managed to escape from a moving vehicle. "That will have to be explained to me," he said.
Last night, a police source told the Observer that two officers travelled in the prisoner truck, while a service vehicle with a sergeant on board escorted the truck. It is alleged that the cops stopped in Ewarton, St Catherine to get refreshments and continued the journey.
The source said, too, that the officers travelling in the escort vehicle diverted to get petrol in St Ann without informing the cops travelling in the prison truck.
In the meantime, head of the Department of Correctional Services, Major Richard Reese, was adamant yesterday that Minto and Jones were in the custody of the police when they escaped.
"When they escaped they were not in our custody," Reese told the Observer. He declined to say whether the loading process was recorded on video.
The prisoners were loaded into the truck while they were on the compound of the maximum security remand centre at Bumper Hall in Kingston, which is operated by the Department of Correctional Services.
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www.jamaicaobserver.com
dem nuh easy at all
Police question mysterious escape of two prisoners
KARYL WALKER & HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporters
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
FELICE. it doesn't feel right
ASSISTANT Commissioner Justin Felice yesterday stopped just short of blaming the police for Saturday's mysterious escape of two dangerous prisoners while they were being transported in a truck from the New Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston to Montego in St James.
"It stinks and it doesn't feel right. We are investigating this matter," said Felice, head of the Jamaica Constabulary's Anti-Corruption Branch.
The escape of the two prisoners - Orlando Minto and Zetroy Jones - was also being investigated by the newly formed Inspector General's Office, headed by Deputy Commissioner Charles Scarlett.
"The Inspector General's office will check out the administrative aspects of the case," the force's communication director Karl Angell said yesterday.
Remandees are usually handcuffed to each other before being loaded into a vehicle designed specifically to transport prisoners. The vehicles are fitted with compartments which can each accommodate several prisoners. Each compartment and the main door at the back of the truck are usually locked before the vehicle leaves the premises.
It was not clear, however, if these procedures were followed in Saturday's transport of the prisoners.
Felice yesterday admitted that he was at loss to fathom how two men, handcuffed to each other, managed to escape from a moving vehicle. "That will have to be explained to me," he said.
Last night, a police source told the Observer that two officers travelled in the prisoner truck, while a service vehicle with a sergeant on board escorted the truck. It is alleged that the cops stopped in Ewarton, St Catherine to get refreshments and continued the journey.
The source said, too, that the officers travelling in the escort vehicle diverted to get petrol in St Ann without informing the cops travelling in the prison truck.
In the meantime, head of the Department of Correctional Services, Major Richard Reese, was adamant yesterday that Minto and Jones were in the custody of the police when they escaped.
"When they escaped they were not in our custody," Reese told the Observer. He declined to say whether the loading process was recorded on video.
The prisoners were loaded into the truck while they were on the compound of the maximum security remand centre at Bumper Hall in Kingston, which is operated by the Department of Correctional Services.
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www.jamaicaobserver.com
dem nuh easy at all