A $200,000 fence intended to secure Her Majesty’s Prison has been in storage since 2011 because it “was not the correct fence,” Education and Culture Minister Myron Walwyn reportedly said during the recent Standing Finance Committee deliberations.
Leaders, however, have taken the time to play the blame game for the stalled project.
According to the report on the SFC proceedings, Mr. Walwyn told the committee that the fence was purchased by the previous Virgin Islands Party-led administration, whose education and culture minister was Andrew Fahie (R-D1).
Mr. Fahie, in turn, said the specifications for the fence were provided by a department under then-Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser (R-D3) — a charge Mr. Fraser denied, asserting that the project was entirely under Mr. Fahie’s purview.
Prison security
The issue came to light during an SFC meeting when Mr. Fraser asked about an initiative to improve prison security that dates back nearly a decade.
Around that time, several inmates escaped: Devin Maduro and Kareem Durante broke free after cutting a hole in the perimeter fence in May 2009, and Keenan Bethelmy and Clifton Stoutt also escaped through holes in the fence in 2008 and 2006, respectively. All four men were reportedly recaptured or turned themselves in.
Mr. Fraser said during the recent SFC deliberations that it was determined at the time that the prison fence was in need of replacement, and he asked MEC officials whether that had happened, according to the SFC report, which was tabled last Thursday in the House of Assembly.
In response, Dr. Marcia Potter, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture, told Mr. Fraser that the fencing project had not been carried out, the report states.
Though a fence had been purchased in 2010, Mr. Walwyn reportedly stated that the project was never carried out because it “was not the correct fence.”
“The notion of the fence being the wrong fence was determined before 2011, when the new government took office,” Mr. Walwyn stated, according to the report.
When contacted by this reporter, Mr. Fahie, who was the minister responsible for the prison at the time the fence was purchased, took exception to Mr. Walwyn’s statement.
“This is yet another fickle attempt to cast aspersions on the previous government of two terms ago,” he said. “This attempt to have such ill-conceived notions as part of the Virgin Islands Party government’s legacy will be challenged and met with resistance.”
Mr. Fahie also said that the specifications for the fence were provided by the Public Works Department, which would have been the responsibility of then-Communications and Works Minister Julian Fraser.
Mr. Fraser, in turn, denied Mr. Fahie’s statement and passed the buck back to the former education minister.
“Where they got the specifications from, I’m not sure,” he said. “It was entirely a Ministry of Education and Culture project.”
The purchase
A Beacon report from Feb. 21, 2013 states that the fence was purchased from the Massachusetts-based security-fencing manufacturer Riverdale Mills Corporation.
That fence, which was estimated to cost about $200,000, is still in storage near Peebles Hospital, stated Jovita Scatliffe, the ministry’s finance and planning officer, according to this year’s SFC report.
Mr. Foot reportedly added that he doesn’t think the prison fence needs wholesale replacing, but just repairing in certain sections, the report adds.
Still, the current barrier “is not a substantial fence,” he said, according to the report.
Earlier discussion
The SFC report doesn’t provide any more details about the history of the fence, but Mr. Fraser has brought up the issue in the past.
During a February 2013 HOA sitting, he asked about the status of the fence, and Mr. Walwyn responded that the ministry couldn’t afford to complete the project.
The fence purchased in 2010 would not surround the entire prison perimeter, the minister stated at the time.
Plans were made in 2011 for a complete perimeter fence, but that would have increased its total cost from $294,937 to $931,345, he explained.
More recent escapes
Escapes have continued to be an issue at HMP since the 2009 breakouts of Messrs. Maduro and Durante.
In May 2010, Angel Raphael Carrion fled the facility, and no recapture has been reported.
Eduard Bueno Beltran also escaped in September 2012 — “presumably” through a whole cut through a section of the prison perimeter fence, police said at the time.
Mr. Beltran was never recaptured by Virgin Islands authorities, but last November he pleaded guilty in Puerto Rico to importing controlled substances, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico.
In February 2013, Jessroy McKelly left the Balsam Ghut facility during a recreation period, according to a police press release. Prison and police officers recaptured Mr. McKelly, who is currently serving life in prison for a murder he allegedly committed in 2008, in Little Bay about 20 minutes after police were notified of the escape, the 2013 release stated.
In April 2013, Andrew Angus Penn allegedly escaped simply by walking through the prison’s open gate when no guards were nearby.
More recently, Edrino “Mr. Escape” Richards allegedly lived up to his nickname by escaping prison last September. Online reports state that he jumped over the prison gate on Sept. 6, but was recaptured a day later, according to police.
No comment
Bria Smith, an information officer in the Ministry of Education and Culture, said on Tuesday that officials are still in discussions about the prison facilities, and thus cannot comment on the matter at this time.
Attempts to reach HMP Superintendent David Foot were not immediately successful. Governor’s Office Policy Officer Maria Mays said Governor John Duncan plans on addressing the issue in the near future.
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