Derek Achong

One of the pris­on­ers who were se­ri­ous­ly in­jured fol­low­ing a fra­cas at the Port-of-Spain State Prison on Tues­day has died in hos­pi­tal.

In a me­dia re­lease is­sued a short while ago, the T&T Prison Ser­vice con­firmed that 26-year-old Sher­lon Brown died at the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal ear­li­er to­day.

Brown had been housed at the prison since he was charged with mur­der in Oc­to­ber 2020.

The re­lease stat­ed that Brown's next of kin was con­tact­ed and in­formed.

Act­ing Pris­ons Com­mis­sion­er De­op­er­sad Ra­moutar ex­pressed con­do­lences, as he not­ed that an au­top­sy will have to be per­formed to de­ter­mine the cause of death.

He not­ed that Brown's death will be in­ves­ti­gat­ed by both the Prison Ser­vice and the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS).

"Com­mis­sion­er Ra­moutar al­so stat­ed that coun­selling ser­vices of­fered to of­fi­cers will be ex­tend­ed to in­mates and fam­i­ly of the de­ceased if re­quired," it stat­ed.

The in­ci­dent at the prison re­port­ed­ly oc­curred around 11 am on Tues­day.

In a me­dia re­lease, the Prison Ser­vice said it stemmed from a dis­pute be­tween a pris­on­er and a prison of­fi­cer.

"It was re­port­ed that the in­mate re­fused to obey law­ful in­struc­tions to re­turn to his cell. He be­came vi­o­lent and un­con­trol­lable," it said.

"The of­fi­cer at­tempt­ed to have the in­mate man­age his emo­tions and re­turn to the cell. How­ev­er, the of­fi­cer was as­sault­ed. The of­fi­cer had no choice but to de­fend him­self and oth­er in­mates in the vicin­i­ty chose this in­ci­dent to ral­ly around, caus­ing a fra­cas," it added.

How­ev­er, lawyers for three of the in­jured pris­on­ers gave an al­ter­na­tive ver­sion in their court fil­ings over them be­ing trans­ferred to oth­er prison fa­cil­i­ties af­ter be­ing dis­charged. The case was dis­missed by High Court Judge Mar­garet Mo­hammed on Thurs­day af­ter­noon.

The lawyers claimed that prison of­fi­cers were phys­i­cal­ly abus­ing a Mus­lim pris­on­er with epilep­sy and an­oth­er Mus­lim pris­on­er ob­ject­ed, lead­ing to both of them be­ing beat­en. They claimed that the men ran in­to a cell which con­tained oth­er pris­on­ers and they too were at­tacked by the prison of­fi­cers.