Board of Visitors investigating claims of ‘death squad’ of correctional officers at Tower Street

Custos Steadman Fuller, a member of the Board of Visitors at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Facility, has indicated that the oversight body has received reports of abuse of prisoners being perpetrated by what is believed to be a 'death squad' of correctional officers.

Fuller said the board would be investigating the allegations.

The allegations were made by an inmate at the facility who is currently hospitalised at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) after he was allegedly beaten up by a correctional officer. The inmate's mother made the report to the Board of Visitors.

"The board has been made aware of the allegation as reported to us by the mother of the inmate that he has been severely injured due to beating. We made a visit to Tower Street on Friday and we raised the matter with the superintendent ...we will be conducting an investigation because that is our mandate as the board of visitors," Fuller told The Gleaner yesterday.

When The Gleaner spoke with Lorna Anderson* (name changed upon request) she was at her breaking point.

She told The Gleaner that her son believed a 'death squad' of correctional officers has been operating in the prison. According to her son, the officers have been raiding prisoners' cells at odd hours and abusing them in the most brutish manner, even to the extremes of shoving batons in the anuses of inmates.

She said her visit to the Mary Seacole Ward at the Kingston Public Hospital was a harrowing experience for her.

"When I went down there, I saw my son laying down on his back and he said 'Mommy, I was in my cell and the officer came in and question me for a phone and I said I have no phone and he ordered the other two inmates out of the cell' and proceeded to box him and beat him up. He is unable to walk and the doctors ordered an MRI for him," she told The Gleaner.

"I don't know if my son is crippled or not. When I visited him he had no feeling in his feet and he said that the officers said to him 'lick me back, lick me back', but he didn't because if he had retaliated they would have killed him," she said.

The Gleaner has learnt that before the incident, the inmate had spoken out at a meeting which was held at the prison to discuss human rights and treatment of prisoners.

"He was brave enough to speak up. That is why they beat him so badly," the distraught mother explained to The Gleaner.

Anderson said she now fears for her son's life and is worried that he might end up dead if he is returned to the Tower Street facility.

Deputy Commissioner of Corrections Joyce Stone confirmed that the inmate was involved in an incident but would not say if he was beaten by correctional officers. She also denied reports of a 'death squad' operating in the prison.

"An incident occurred on Thursday, November 26 and it was reported to the head office. According to the report he was observed with a cell phone and was instructed to hand over the phone which he refused. The officer tried to take the phone from him during which he sustained an injury to his lower lip. He was seen at the institution's medical centre and while there he complained that he was unable to walk and he was referred to the KPH and the incident reported to INDECOM (the Independent Commission of Investigations)," she said while presenting excerpts of the report to The Gleaner.

Stone could not say whether or not the phone was actually found.

In regards to allegations of a death squad of correctional officers Stone said: "I don't know of any death squad in our institution ... how many inmates would have died by now from the death squad? We have a search team, I have not been so advised that we have a death squad."

The public defender was made aware of the beating incident and has begun investigations. A response from INDECOM was not forthcoming up to press time.