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Correctional officers hurt in bloody scuffle at Richmond Farm prison

Published:Sunday | April 5, 2020 | 12:00 AM
A section of the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Mary - Damion Mitchell photo

Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor

Police and soldiers have been called in to the Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St Mary following a bloody early afternoon scuffle among inmates and warders.

Prison sources say as many as seven officers were hurt.

Three were taken to hospital including one who was stabbed in the back.

He reportedly received five stitches.

Contacted a short while ago, Matthew Samuda, the minister without portfolio in the National Security Ministry with responsibility for the correctional service, confirmed that there was a disturbance at the prison.

However, he said it has been brought under control and he was now awaiting a detailed report.

Samuda said, too, that police and soldiers who were nearby assisted in restoring order.

"Strict measures will be put in place to ensure that there is no opportunity for a recurrence," he said.

Law enforcement officers are now searching the prisoners' dorms for contraband.

Initial reports are that around 1:15 p.m, inmates became irate after a correctional officer accosted a prisoner and confiscated a cellphone from him.

They reportedly rushed to the prisoner's defence triggering the scuffle.

A video purported to have been shot from inside the facility shows an inmate barely conscious on his back with an officer standing over him.

Other prisoners then attempted to use buckets of water to revive him.

In the background, an inmate calling for the intervention of the Independent Commission of Investigations, said the prisoner was unprovoked.  

The Richmond Farm Adult Correctional Facility is a low risk prison that accommodates around 230 prisoners.

At present there are about 120 inmates there.

The facility primarily houses first-time prisoners and embraces agriculture as a part of rehabilitation activities.

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