Police: Prisoner’s death not yet classified as murder

POLICE have not yet classified prisoner Emmanuel Joseph’s death as murder, despite state pathologist Dr Parthasarathi Pramanik discovering shock and haemorrhage, polytrauma and multiple blunt force injuries all over Joseph’s body.

Police are currently referring to Joseph’s passing as an “unnatural death.”

Joseph, 22, was charged with attempting to murder a prison officer and the daughter of a deputy prisons commissioner but died on October 20, while in remand at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, at Santa Rosa.

One day after he appeared in court to answer the charges, Joseph complained about chest pains and was taken to the Arima Health Facility where he was pronounced dead by the attending physician, according to a Prison Service statement.

The post-mortem examination was done on Thursday after Joseph’s family was granted an injunction to have an independent pathologist witness the autopsy.

Former state pathologist Dr Hughvon Des Vignes witnessed the autopsy on the family’s behalf and will conduct further tests when the body is released to the family.

The post-mortem certificate obtained by Newsday classified Joseph’s death as “unnatural” with the cause of death listed as shock and haemorrhage; polytrauma (multiple traumatic injuries), gunshot injury to the right shoulder and multiple blunt force injuries all over the body.

On Friday, Snr Supt Rishi Singh told Newsday the police’s Homicide Bureau was monitoring the investigation.

“Enquiries are ongoing into the matter and the Homicide Bureau is maintaining oversight over the matter, so we will monitor the investigation and provide support to ensure that the highest investigative standards are maintained.”

Asked if Joseph’s death was being classified as a murder, Singh said, “It is an unnatural death at the moment, so we will pronounce on that at a later time.”

Head of the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights Denise Pitcher described the results of the autopsy as “shocking and disturbing...

“No one should have to face these types of circumstances or fear that they could face death while in remand.

“Remand is not a place for any sort of punishment. The punishment comes (from the State) after they are convicted. No one should fear retribution or death when they go into the prison system in TT.

“That is not what the prison system is for.”

She called for a thorough investigation into the incident.

“We have seen other instances of killings at the hands of state officials where nothing has come of the investigations. That continues to erode the public’s trust in the justice system which is already extremely fragile right now...this is a complete failure of the justice system.”

The autopsy report comes after Prison Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar told Newsday last Sunday there was never any concern over Joseph’s safety as “the prison service is a professional organisation.”

He added Joseph was not the first person to be jailed for their role in targeting a prison officer.

“Officers have been killed and assassinated already and they have held the perpetrators…and they are still within our system here for a few years well, so this is nothing new to us.”

Pitcher, however, questioned the decision to place Joseph in the care of the prison given the crimes he allegedly committed and challenged Ramoutar’s description of the service as “professional.”

“There definitely should be special arrangements made for these types of instances,” she said.

“The prison system has an inherent power balance. You have people who are incarcerated and very vulnerable and prison officers are responsible for their care, so there is already an inherent power imbalance. “That can lead to situations of abuse of power and that is what we have seen in this instance.

“As much as the Prisons Commissioner wants to say they are professional, the fact of the matter is that we continue to receive ongoing reports of people in the prison system who face abuses. So this level of professionalism is questionable,” Pitcher lamented.

Newsday attempted to contact Ramoutar for comment on the results of the autopsy but he did not answer our calls.

Lawyers for Joseph’s family are expected to speak on their behalf at a later date.