Several weeks after the release of two detained dentists drew international headlines, authorities were on Monday on the hunt for three Cuban men who broke out of the Carmichael Road Detention Centre in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
It led to police launching an investigation to determine how the Cubans were able to cut their way through three fences and escape the facility, which is used to house illegal immigrants.
The men were identified as Jose Alvarez Garcia, 38; Victor Brito Senea, 35; and Lazaro Acosta Ortiz, 33. The Cubans had reportedly been detained for several months.
Officials made no public announcements regarding the incident and were quiet on the details, although the Journal was able to get the names of the escaped men from a contact.
It was also revealed that just two weeks ago, a Haitian detainee was able to “walk out” of the Detention Centre “in broad daylight”. His name was not revealed.
The three Cubans reportedly escaped after 4am Sunday by cutting their way through three fences at the facility and making a clean break under the shadow of Defence Force officers who were on guard.
The Defence Force is responsible for security at the facility and nine officers work per shift, the Journal learnt.
The latest break has again refocused attention on security at the facility. But on Monday, the detainees who remained appeared relaxed as they sat on the outdoors, some of them using the two paid phones stationed outside the dormitories for the illegal immigrants to use at their leisure.
The Bahama Journal learnt that police are investigating to determine whether reports that the detainees may have bought their way out of the facility are true.
Officials at the centre would not comment on the incident and no immigration or police authority released any formal information to the press. During a break in 2004, authorities had released names and photographs of escaped detainees for New Providence residents to be on the lookout for the Cubans.
More than 24 hours after this latest incident, residents in the community surrounding the Detention Centre knew nothing of the break and had not been advised to be on the lookout.
On Sunday, immigration and law enforcement officials were reportedly at the Detention Centre as the investigations into the matter got underway. It was reported that the first hole in the fence was cut about 20 feet from the lookout post where a Defence Force officer is supposed to be stationed.
According to reports from officials that reached the Bahama Journal, the officer on the lookout reportedly heard a noise and wrestled with one of the Cubans who was still able to escape from the facility even though the officer was supposedly armed with a weapon and a radio.
On Monday morning, Defence Force Commodore Davy Rolle was at the facility and reportedly held a meeting with officers there.
During an incident at the Detention Centre back in December 2004 when a group of Cuban immigrants reportedly set fire to one of the dorms, authorities had vowed tighter security at the facility.
As a result of that incident, officials said 11 Defence Force officers sustained injuries, mainly bruises and lacerations.
The Journal was able to confirm on Monday that while some of the Cubans allegedly involved in the 2004 incident had been repatriated, a group of them was recently returned to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre from Her Majesty’s Prison, meaning they have been in detention in The Bahamas now for well over a year.
On Monday, there were 242 illegal immigrants being detained at the facility. They included 72 Cubans, including three children; and 134 Haitians, including three children.
While declining to give any information on the latest break from the Detention Centre, Assistant Director of Immigration Weston Saunders in an interview with The Bahama Journal pointed to the challenges of operating the facility.
“Overall it’s an expensive venture and it’s one that we need all of the agencies [involved in],” he said of the facility.
“Security is a serious issue at this centre and we just recently had to beef up our security to make everybody understand the importance of being vigilant and keeping a keen eye on what’s going on.”
A year ago, government officials appointed former Acting Superintendent of Her Majesty’s Prison Edwin Culmer director of the Detention Centre, but Mr. Culmer recently told The Bahama Journal that he does no work at the facility and has no idea about the goings on there.
An insider at the Detention Centre said on Monday that another challenge faced by personnel at the facility is that Defence Force officers report to the commodore and immigration personnel report to the director of immigration and oftentimes the two groups are failing to operate on one accord.
Immigration Minister Shane Gibson could not be reached for a report into the latest break from the Detention Centre and released no statement on the matter.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
