Staff linked to Tommy Lee bust-up remain on duty

National Security State Minister Zavia Mayne has asserted that the correctional officers involved in a bust-up with dancehall artiste Tommy Lee Sparta at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre this week will not be removed from duty.

The artiste, whose given name is Leroy Russell, was reportedly badly beaten and rendered unconscious by correctional officers at the downtown Kingston-based prison on Monday and was later hospitalised.

Russell’s attorney, Donahue Martin, made calls for the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to remove the guards in question from duty until an investigation into the incident had been concluded, with the artiste’s management also calling for a swift, thorough probe.

“Based on the preliminary report, we are not of the view that the circumstances of the incident necessitated a removal of the officer from front-line duties,” Mayne said as he addressed journalists at an event yesterday.

Pressed further by The Gleaner, he said that he could not comment on Russell’s general conduct behind bars, adding that he was unaware of any previous altercations.

The Independent Commission of Investigations, which has commenced a probe into the matter, was scheduled to interview the entertainer on Tuesday.

Russell was sentenced in March 2021 to three years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm and two yeas for illegal possession of ammunition after being arrested in December 2020.

On Monday, the DCS reported that an inmate, whose name was not disclosed, refused to re-enter his cell following the distribution of breakfast and hurled his meal at a member of staff who had been instructing him to re-enter the cell.

Both the inmate and the correctional officer received injuries as the officer tried to subdue him, the release said.

“I can only speak on the basis of the initial report,” Mayne said, pointing out that staff responded with reasonable force in keeping with their training.

Other inmates at the facility captured the unfolding altercation with cellular phones although possession of such devices behind bars is outlawed. Mayne said he had not seen any such recording.

The Gleaner understands that a raid was conducted at the prison on Tuesday and a number of electronic devices were confiscated.

Uncustomed cigarettes, alcohol, and an assortment of lighters and other smoking paraphernalia were among items reportedly discovered stashed in the staff lockeroom.

“No one has been identified as the owner of the items,” Monique Pryce, the DCS’s director of corporate communication and public relations, told The Gleaner yesterday.

While not speaking directly to the seizures, Mayne said that the Corrections Act was being operationalised, adding that the ministry would be taking a zero-tolerance approach to breaches.

“Any correctional officer that will aid and abet the inclusion of contraband in the correctional facilities, they, too, will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law,” he warned, noting that there was need for continued work to tackle the long-standing issue of prisoners having access to contraband.

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