Calls for Ramjattan resignation unfair, former prison inquiry chairman says

Justice James Patterson

It is unfair to blame either Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, President David Granger or the government for last Sunday’s jailbreak and fire at the Camp Street prison without a full view of the preventative steps that were taken, according to retired judge James Patterson, who headed the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into last year’s fatal prison unrest at the facility.

“It’s quite unfair [to call for Ramjattan’s resignation] because we don’t know what efforts he made. The ultimate decision is not his, it’s Cabinet’s,” Patterson told Sunday Stabroek during a recent interview, where he also said that some of the recommendations that were produced could have been implemented almost immediately, while work could have started on others that would require extensive time and money.