By Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THREE MALE prisoners made a pre-dawn escape from the Falmouth Police Station lock-up in Trelawny yesterday, after cutting their way through the board roof of their cell into an upstairs office.
Personnel at the station, located on Rodney Street in the old Georgian town, contend that the jail break could have been prevented if the Government had made good on its three-year-old promise to construct a new station building. The existing structure is in a dilapidated state and is a safety hazard to the police staff there.
"All we have been hearing is that they are working on it, just look around the place and you can see the state of the place for yourself," commented one policeman, who did not want to be identified.
PRISONERS ON THE RUN
The prisoners on the run have been identified as Durrant Kelly, 28, of a Flankers address in St. James, who was arrested on charges of housebreaking and larceny; 17-year-old Orlando Hodges of Wakefield district, Trelawny and Andre Morrison, also 17, of Deeside, also in that parish. Hodges and Morrison are facing charges of the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Reports from Sergeant Andrea Brown, the Constabulary Communication Net-work (CCN) officer for Trelawny, are that the jailbreak occurred about 12:10 a.m., 10 minutes after a shift change.
Sergeant Brown said police were on duty when they reportedly heard noise coming from the divisional administration office. The police then forced their way into the administration area and discovered that one of the inner offices belonging to the deputy superintendent was open.
Further reports are that the policemen went into the DSP's office and saw that a section of the board flooring was ripped out and some panes were also missing from the window frame. During a subsequent check of the four holding cells, a hole was seen in the roof of cell number four, which is below the DSP's office. The three prisoners were also missing.
Meanwhile, 10 of the remaining 12 prisoners have been transferred to the Clark's Town Police Station as a security measure.
The Office of Professional Responsibilities (OPR) has also begun a probe into the incident.
In October 2001, the then Minister of National Security, K.D. Knight, broke ground for the construction of a new Falmouth Police Station, which at that time was estimated to cost $200 million. The facility has remained in its dilapidated state.
