Commissioner: Prisoners upset over relocation, but all's well

PRISONS Commissioner Dennis Pulchan on Wednesday afternoon sought to assure the public that the protest at the Maximum Security Prison had been quelled and everything was back to normal.

In a media release posted on the Prisons Service's Facebook page just after 1 pm, Pulchan said there was no riot but a "tense situation."

It said he was "assuring the citizenry that the matter is under control and the necessary arrangements would be made to ascertain the concerns of the prisoners."

It said minor damage had been assessed, "midday diet" was being served and normal operations at the prison had resumed.

Prison sources said a number of high-profile inmates and their affiliates were transferred to the Wayne Jackson Building, commonly referred to as Building 13, at the weekend. Officials said this was done to isolate the inmates and save on resources, rather than have them spread across various prisons.

This move was not well received and prisoners voiced their frustration by first staging a hunger strike, then, on Wednesday, set mattresses on fire.

The media release said at around 9 am, a tense situation developed when prisoners in four cells set their mattresses on fire.

But it said the fire was immediately put out and the division was back to normality.

Pulchan said tit is not uncommon or illegal for prisoners to be transferred, and this is done on the basis of classification, availability of space and risk factors.