Footage Shows Injured Inmates on Ground After Being Badly Beaten: Prison Riot in St. Andrew – Watch Videos
There have been multiple outcries by inmates in Jamaican prisons speaking out about how badly they are being treated in the detainment facilities, the most recent of which is a protest for better living conditions inside lockups.
However, there are some cases where the use of excessive force by the police is exercised in order to quell mutiny.
Official reports of a riot at the Hunt’s Bay Police Station in St. Andrew state that the incident took place on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, and was triggered when members of the police located and seized illegal items.
Superintendent Damion Manderson said that officers at the lockup uncovered a storehouse at the location consisting of various unauthorized contraband such as chargers, weed, cell phones, knives, lighters, and other similar items. He mentioned that the incident was, “stemming from the consistent seizure of contraband from inmates.”
According to Manderson, the force used was justified due to the prisoners, “Chanting and throwing…urine and other waste matter at the officers,” when a demand for the contraband to be returned was not met.
He also mentioned that action was only taken after all verbal tactics to reason with the inmates were ignored.
Footage of the incident’s aftermath was captured via camera, the footage is now being circulated, it shows that the prisoners suffered physical damage during or after the riot as multiple of the men inside are shown beaten and bruised on the ground.
The video was taken by one of the prisoners who was separated from the battered men by a grill and other inmates can be heard asking the beaten men to show their injuries for the camera.
At one point, someone stated that ‘Devil Man’ was dead, however, the video showed someone barely moving, but still alive.
A second video was captured and heard the prisoners crying out for help, and someone called on INDECOM to rectify the situation stating, “Yow INDECOM, look wah gwaan innah e place. Bay police and ting a beat the whole a we…we wah help roun yah.”
Watch the videos below:
