Inmate stabs inmate

According to reports at around 4.32 am Anthony Joseph, 26, was reportedly attacked in his cell by another inmate following a heated argument. It is alleged that the killer used an improvised sharpened weapon and violently stabbed Joseph several times. Other inmates alerted prison guards who rushed to the cell and alerted the prisons doctor where Joseph was found to have suffered severe blood loss.

He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope where he was pronounced dead in arrival.

The suspect was then detained by prison guards and was expected to be handed over to Arouca police yesterday.

A team of Homicide Officers from the Region 2 Homicide Bureau visited the prison and statements are to be recorded from several eye witnesses.

President of the Prison Officers Association (POA), Ceron Richards, told Sunday Newsday yesterday in a telephone interview that he could not confirm the incident but he “would not surprised”.

“It is not uncommon to see stabbings in the prison. It is overcrowded and congested. It is not uncommon to see inmates perpetrate violence against each other,” he said.

Richards pointed out that these incidents happen especially at Remand and the institution is a “hot bed” for such attacks “Something has to be done,” he stressed.

He said Remand at Golden Grove has been in dire need of attention and now that the oil dollar has dropped it “spells volumes for its attention in the future”.

He pointed out that when the oil dollar was high the State did not use part of the money to fix Remand or build a new purpose-built facility which is what the POA has been asking for. Richards said the necessary resources have not been put into Remand and predicted that without this “these types of incidents will continue to happen”.

“Remand is a hot bed, a volcano waiting to erupt,” he cautioned.

Attempts to contact Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart yesterday were unsuccessful.