A hunger strike and lock-in by inmates at the General Penitentiary in downtown Kingston collapsed yesterday after 11 ring leaders were relocated and the facility searched for contraband, according to the head of the correction services, Major Richard Reese...
News Source: Jamaica Observer
"Everything is back to normal at Tower Street," Reese told the Observer. "The inmates are eating light diet."
"Some had gastric complaints and were treated by a medical team, but there were no serious complaints," he added. "They took breakfast and supper today."
Nearly all of the 1,687 prisoners at the facility, built in the 19th century to accommodate less than half that amount, had for four days refused to eat or leave their cells, to protest about general conditions, plus the overcrowding and the length of the parole process.
Warders had feared that the prisoners were storing faeces and urine in unemptied slop pails with which to attack correctional officers - a tactic that prisoners have used in the past.
There were also concerns that the inmates might have attacked non-Jamaican prisoners who did not join the protest, forcing the authorities to remove the foreigners Wednesday night.
"We transferred and have secured the 36 foreign prisoners who declined to join in the hunger strike and who were being threatened with death by other inmates," Reese said. " We have also removed 11 of the main leaders today."
The relocation was incident free, correctional officials said last night.
Full Story: Moved to other loacations
