By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterA CONTINGENT of Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers, along with a team from the police Mobile Reserve Unit, were placed on standby late
yesterday at the Tower Street Correctional Centre, Kingston, following reports of planned attacks on foreigners at the prison by inmates on a hunger strike.
INTELLIGENCE REPORTS
Intelligence reports that local prisoners were plotting to kill a group of imprisoned foreign nationals, in order to draw international attention to their complaints of poor prison conditions, prompted Commissioner of Corrections Major Richard Reece to order the foreigners transferred.
Scores of soldiers, equipped with riot shields, were briefed at the Elletson Road police complex, and were seen studying a map of the prison alongside correctional officers.
Some inmates were said to have armed themselves with explosives thrown over the perimeter wall by outside accomplices.
Prison authorities feared a repeat of the major prison riot in August 1997 which claimed the lives of 14 inmates at the same penal facility.
Meanwhile, for the third consecutive day, inmates at the institution continued a hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison, including over-crowding, the poor quality of cooked meals, and the slow response to parole applications at the maximum security facility.
