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Inmates tear-gassed
Six treated at May Pen Hospital VAUGHN DAVIS, Observer staff reporter
Saturday, June 09, 2007
SIX inmates were seriously injured yesterday when police fired tear gas into their cells at the May Pen police lock-up in Clarendon.
Deputy Superintendent Cleon Marsh, the Clarendon crime chief, who confirmed the incident, said the six inmates were taken to the May Pen Hospital for treatment, while other affected inmates were examined at the station. He said the cells were then cleaned and the inmates returned.
The incident was immediately condemned yesterday by local human rights group, Families Against State Terrorism (FAST), which accused the police of using undue force.
"I am concerned about the use of tear gas in circumstances such as those. My understanding is that tear gas is normally used to disperse a crowd or for instance inmates who may have barricaded themselves into an area and refuse to come out. That means that when you use teargas there is an exit, there is somewhere for people to get away because of the toxic nature of the gas," said the group's spokesman Yvonne McCalla-Sobers.
".My understanding is that the policeman who discharged the teargas actually locked the cell area behind him and to me that is undue use of force," McCalla-Sobers told the Observer yesterday.
However, Marsh said the matter was being blown out of proportion. He declined to give details surrounding the incident, but said the tear gas canister was discharged in the lock-up because the inmates were becoming 'increasingly unruly and began issuing death threats' to police officers on duty.
It was not immediately clear yesterday what specific incident forced the police to retaliate with the use of tear gas, however, an unconfirmed report said it occurred after an inmate threw a bag of urine at an officer on duty. It was also alleged that an inmate attempted to attack an officer through the bars of his cell.
Meanwhile, according to a source at the May Pen Hospital, the mother of one of the inmates who reportedly suffers from asthma, fainted after seeing her son laying in a semi-conscious state and being fed oxygen.
Six treated at May Pen Hospital VAUGHN DAVIS, Observer staff reporter
Saturday, June 09, 2007
SIX inmates were seriously injured yesterday when police fired tear gas into their cells at the May Pen police lock-up in Clarendon.
Deputy Superintendent Cleon Marsh, the Clarendon crime chief, who confirmed the incident, said the six inmates were taken to the May Pen Hospital for treatment, while other affected inmates were examined at the station. He said the cells were then cleaned and the inmates returned.
The incident was immediately condemned yesterday by local human rights group, Families Against State Terrorism (FAST), which accused the police of using undue force.
"I am concerned about the use of tear gas in circumstances such as those. My understanding is that tear gas is normally used to disperse a crowd or for instance inmates who may have barricaded themselves into an area and refuse to come out. That means that when you use teargas there is an exit, there is somewhere for people to get away because of the toxic nature of the gas," said the group's spokesman Yvonne McCalla-Sobers.
".My understanding is that the policeman who discharged the teargas actually locked the cell area behind him and to me that is undue use of force," McCalla-Sobers told the Observer yesterday.
However, Marsh said the matter was being blown out of proportion. He declined to give details surrounding the incident, but said the tear gas canister was discharged in the lock-up because the inmates were becoming 'increasingly unruly and began issuing death threats' to police officers on duty.
It was not immediately clear yesterday what specific incident forced the police to retaliate with the use of tear gas, however, an unconfirmed report said it occurred after an inmate threw a bag of urine at an officer on duty. It was also alleged that an inmate attempted to attack an officer through the bars of his cell.
Meanwhile, according to a source at the May Pen Hospital, the mother of one of the inmates who reportedly suffers from asthma, fainted after seeing her son laying in a semi-conscious state and being fed oxygen.
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