Officers of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) yesterday managed to foil a planned escape from the Georgetown Prison, where the bars of cells were discovered to have been cut by inmates, who had access to hacksaw blades.
The architects of the plan have been identified as Stafrei Alexander, who is serving a life sentence for attempted murder, and Ryan Jones, who is serving a 28-year sentence for manslaughter and prison authorities said they have put arrangements in place to have them relocated.
Alexander, who has been charged with multiple murders, was one of six inmates who escaped from the same prison in July, 2017, during a jailbreak that saw the facility being burnt.
In a statement, Director of Prisons (ag) Gladwin Samuels announced that the police, with the assistance of prison officers from the Georgetown Prison, will be conducting a full investigation into the escape attempt.
The investigation, Samuels said, will determine, among other things, how the prisoners got possession of hacksaw blades and why sawed bars were not discovered earlier.
According to the statement, the escape bid was detected at around 10.45 yesterday morning, when Samuels and officers were interacting with prisoners in the Security Block of the Georgetown Prison.
The statement said it was observed that several bars of a cell were wrapped with pieces of cloth and upon further investigation, it was discovered that the bars were cut and secured with cloth.
Samuels explained that the heads of Joint Services were alerted and the immediate search operation that was launched revealed that bars of another cell had also been cut.
Hacksaw blades were also unearthed during the search.
The prison system has been severely tested by a series of breakouts as well as the continued smuggling of items into the prisons across the country despite regular raids.
During the chaos of the July 9th, 2017 prison break, Alexander managed to escape. Alexander, also known as “Anthony Williams” and “Ratty,” was eventually recaptured almost three weeks later at Topoo, Corentyne, Berbice.
According to police, Alexander had just emerged from his hideout in the backlands and was heading to a house in the area when police cornered him in an unfenced yard. He was unarmed.
Alexander has been charged with multiple murders, including that of Linden businesswoman Shevon Gordon and a co-accused in the crime. He had previously escaped from police custody while being held for the woman’s murder and several counts of robbery.
After his recapture, he was charged with murdering Robin Maxwell Thomas, who had been one of the two men jointly charged alongside him with the murder of Gordon. He was also charged with the murder of another man, Richard Reming-ton, which was committed at Cholmondeley Hill, Wismar, Linden.
A year after he was recaptured, Alexander was handed a life sentence by Justice Sandil Kissoon following a jury’s finding that he was guilty of attempting to murder Curtis Thom, whom he shot back in 2015.
Meanwhile, Jones, also known as Rayon Jones, was sentenced to 28 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Timehri mechanic Puranand Baljit, who was stabbed to death during a robbery at his Madewini home in 2016.
The 24-year-old Jones appeared in 2018 before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Georgetown, where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He had initially been indicted for murdering Baljit, called ‘Andrew,’ in the course/furtherance of a burglary on June 9th, 2016.
The state’s case was that on the night of the fatal encounter, Jones entered the deceased’s house through his bedroom window, which was left open, and stole his laptop and phone. However, Baljit awakened and spotted Jones, who proceeded to stab him 10 times about the body.
