Prisoners said to be on hunger strike

Stand Up for Jamaica (SUFJ) is calling for immediate investigations at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Facility following allegations of inmate abuse during the Christmas period.

Executive director for SUFJ, Carla Gullotta, in a statement yesterday, said its attorney visited the maximum security prison on Monday and yesterday, and got several reports about alleged abuse.

She said that the prisoners have alleged severe beatings, the use of batons to evict them from their cells and the destruction of personal belongings. "Some blocks are on hunger strike and inmates do not come out from their cells," Gullotta said in a statement.

However, Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, described the reports of a hunger strike and prison fracas at the prison as "rumours and unfortunate mischief making".

"I have instructed Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, Dr Marc Thomas, to invite representatives of INDECOM and the Office of the Public Defender to visit the institution, undertake independent investigations, and inform the public of their findings urgently," Samuda said.

Allegations reaching THE STAR are that on Christmas Day, a correctional officer pulled a firearm on an inmate after he refused to step out his cell for a search. It is also alleged that during another search operation on December 26, correctional officers used sticks to poke inmates while they were asleep.