By Leroy Smith
On Thursday (April 13, 2017) the Guyana Police Force and Prison authorities set up a sting operation and successfully arrested a woman, 37-year-old Shundell Parris of ‘B’ Field Sophia who was at the time attempting to bribe several prison officers.
The News Room was informed that the woman, whose son Kemo Evans is on remand at the Timehri Prison for murder, made contact with several prison officers to smuggle marijuana, a cell phone, and matches into the said prison.
Based on the information received, all, with the exception of one prison officer refused her offer but it is unclear if they made any official report about her attempts.
The officer, who accepted the woman’s offer, did so on the grounds that they would meet at a location away from the prison, which was done.
The two met at a restaurant in close proximity to the prison and prison officers informed the police of the intended meeting. As the woman walked into the restaurant, before she could be properly seated, she was confronted by police ranks from the Timehri Police Station, who carried out a search of her belongings and discovered the contrabands.
She was found with an Alcatel cell phone, one charger, one pack of matches and two parcels containing seeds, leaves, and stems of cannabis. The latter was weighed and found to be approximately 66 grammes.
It is unclear what price the woman was willing to pay the senior officer to smuggle the items into the prison.
The items were lodged and the woman is expected to be slapped with several charges including possession of illegal drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
This morning (Friday, April 14, 2017), Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels told the News Room that the matter remains a serious one, even as he commended his ranks for their professionalism and sticking to the guidelines which govern the prisons.
” Prison Officers are increasingly understanding their responsibilities and this has resulted in a middle manager refusing to enter into a corrupt transaction with the mother of a remanded prisoner. Systems were put in place which resulted to her arrest. I ask that others who are approached to become involved in corrupt practices to refrain and have those wrong doers arrested and charged,” said Samuels.
Given the development, Samuels admitted that the prison officers and wardens, who refused to allow themselves to be compromised, could now be targets for the prisoner who the items were intended for.
As a result, moves will be made almost immediately to have that prisoner removed from that facility and taken to another location.
