TWO OF the more than 300 inmates who were battered by soldiers and warders inside the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre last month, testified yesterday that they were shot and injured during the two-day upheaval.
The two were testifying before the Commission of Inquiry established to probe the beatings, and to ascertain how contraband entered the prison.
One of the two referred to as inmate number 11 to protect his identity said he was shot in the left leg when a warder named Grandison fired into his cell in an attempt to force him out.
The other who is housed on the third floor of the New Hall block, said he was grazed in the chest by a bullet as he ran towards his cell in an effort to escape being beaten. Dubbed inmate number 12, the witness said he brought the bloodied shirt he was wearing at the time he was shot on May 21 to the inquiry. However, it was not allowed as evidence.
He also spoke of "an excess amount" of shots being fired, and said the shooting lasted for several hours. He said he found two live rounds from a self-loading rifle inside his cell and handed them over to a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier.
According to him shots were fired inside the cell block and, to prove his point, he said pigeons kept on the compound were shot and killed and pots used for cooking punctured.
Visibly unsettled while being cross-examined by Jacqueline Cummings, attorney-at-law for the Correctional Services, the inmate insisted he was shot. "That is why I never want to come over here. I know there is a cover-up and nothing not coming out a dis inquiry". He was visibly upset as he recounted how his hotplate, television set and tape recorder with CD player were smashed by warders.
Inmate number 11 told the Commission that Director of Security for the prison, Calvin Taylor, and Assistant Superintendent, Carlton Shirley, stood less than 10 feet away and watched while he was being beaten after being pulled from his cell. He said neither man intervened even after he "bawled for help". He claimed he was beaten until he blacked out.
Both inmates also named the JDF's Second Lieutenent Kevin Williams, the ground commander at the time of the incident, as being present on their cell block while they were being beaten.
Yesterday the commission was further enlightened on how contraband enter the prison, as, according to inmate number 11, "most warders run business in there". He explained that as an Orderly with certain privileges, he often acts as the middle man in taking illegal substances including ganja, from warders to prisoners who in turn sell to other inmates.
"There is nobody to report to when everybody a carry on with the same thing," he said when asked by Miss Cummings if he had reported the illegal activities to anyone in authority.
