All rules were broken at NA, hence prison break – Rohee

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee revealed that there was “a breach of all the rules at the New Amsterdam Prisons, resulting in the recent escape of four criminals, including a notorious sea bandit.

The disclosure came after the minister was questioned about the efforts being made to recapture notorious pirate Kevin “Long Hair” Narine, who is now linked to the spate of pirate attacks in the Corentyne River.

Rohee did not say much else, except that his ministry is still going through the report that was submitted on June 30 by the board of inquiry that was set up to investigate the prison break.

Retired Major General Norman McLean headed that board of inquiry.

On June 11, Rickford La Fleur, known as Rickford Williams, 35, of Circle Street, Skeldon, Corentyne; Kevin Narine, known as Long Hair, 32, of Number Seven Village, West Coast Berbice; Vijay Seenarine, 33, of Little India, Skeldon, Corentyne; and Vinood Gopaul, 19, of Lot 34 Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice crawled through the ceiling of the prison and exited that penal institution on the northern side, where the female farm is located.

A portion of zinc on that side of the fence was ripped open, and it is believed that the men fled in that direction.

Seenarine was recaptured on June 26, mere days before the report from the board of inquiry was submitted.

The officer in charge of the New Amsterdam Prisons has been relieved of his duties following that episode, and has been transferred to Georgetown Prisons pending the outcome of an administrative probe into the escape of the four prisoners.

It is not clear what will happen to that officer now.

“If there needs to be any shifting around, we will take those recommendations into consideration,” was all that Rohee would say. He revealed that there were several recommendations at the “administrative, short-, medium- and long- term” levels. The minister added that the administrative recommendations will be followed through, and depending on budget allocations, the others would be carried out.

However, the breach in protocol is not the first of its kind at the prison. A prison warden had breached protocol when he escorted a prisoner out of the compound to fix a sewing machine. The pair then went to Suriname, where they were arrested by Surinamese authorities, and the prison warden was deported to Guyana.

Investigations into that incident are said to be ongoing.