Although it has been nearly two weeks, the evidence of the fire that claimed the lives of 17 inmates at the Camp Street Prison has not yet been erased.
The members of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 3rd prison fire, interested parties and the media visited the Camp Street prison yesterday and were taken to the scene of the fatal occurrence.
The group congregated just inside the prison, where it was met by Prisons Director Kevin Pilgrim along with two accompanying officers and was escorted past an area labelled “visiting booth,” where inmates stood braced against the mesh watching on. It moved again past a large barbed enclosure, known as the “cage,” where, according to witness Michael Lewis, inmates are taken during searches. This is also the area prisoners say they are taken once a week for sunlight and recreation.
To the right and left of the compound, clothes could be seen hanging from makeshift lines at varying levels of the buildings. Inmates had assembled at the barbed windows and openings, and could be heard trying to get the attention of media. “The murderer deh right deh walking with y’all,” a prisoner shouted across the compound.
The group then assembled on an open tarmac facing the blackened southern wall of the New Capital Division building, which is situated at the back of the compound and houses those incarcerated for capital offences.
Above the section is an attic, which contains the valves that control the water to the prison. According to inmate testimonies, the day of the fire, prisoners had attempted to turn on the pipes but no water flowed.
Pilgrim stated that were the valves tampered with, it would be caught on surveillance cameras located across from the building. These cameras are placed on a security hut located directly across from the Division.
When the group entered the Capital B Division, it found that it was littered with rubble and the beds that occupied the space were haphazard. What appeared to be dried blood stained the off-white tiles. To the west of the room was a large opening in the wall, about seven feet in height. Large slabs of concrete lay at the opening, which gave a clear view into the A block, where the fire started.
To the north of Block A, (which is the back of the dorm) on the western wall, is a meshed door. This door faces Camp Street, and is where the prisoners had stood on the night of March 2nd, during a protest. To the left, at the back of the dorm are the washroom facilities. To the south, where the main door is located, the entryway is flanked by two large meshed windows.
Inside, the block was uncomfortably hot. There was no clear patch of floor in sight as steel bed frames appeared to be thrown about, still wet mattresses occupied the floor, and clothes, water bottles, and other items in possession of the inmates lay scattered about the room, mingling with the ash.
