Doan Cleare, the prison’s director of information technology, was the first to take the stand in the coroner’s inquest on Friday. He said that a few of the prison’s cameras and its computer equipment were lost during a thunderstorm last September.
He said the incident was reported to the authorities and attempts were made to replace the equipment, a process that was reportedly hindered due to financial constraints.
“We could have replaced the wiring, but it would have been a waste of time because they were prone to electrical strikes We needed fiber optics-The majority of them are now being replaced-This started about three weeks ago,” Mr. Cleare said.
When asked whether the prison needed more financial assistance, Mr. Cleare admitted that while funds have been allocated in the 2005/2006 budget that money will not be enough to complete the job.
Jurors heard a similar story from an assistant superintendent at the prison.
According to Patrick Wright, who was responsible for the prison’s surveillance equipment up to January 31, all of the equipment was not working at the time of the January incident.
But he added that he was not responsible for making the necessary checks.
The witness said a surveillance camera captured some images on the morning of the escape, but he said while he knew they were inmates, he could not specifically identify the persons.
Earlier this week, inmate Robert Green told the court that on one occasion he and fellow inmate Neil Brown had a conversation about the prison’s cameras, in terms of how the lens worked. Brown was killed during the January incident.
When questioned further, Green admitted to the court that he was involved in an incident with the camera system before, in which he tampered with it to blur the guards’ vision.
The surveillance system was not the only equipment that was not working the morning of the escape, the court heard.
Defence Force Leading Seaman Mark Knowles, who is attached to the Commando Squadron unit at Her Majesty’s Prison, said there was also a problem with the radio set.
He said while officers were able to communicate via radio initially, the equipment’s battery life eventually died.
“Through the night, the radio goes dead,” he said. “We complained about it, but we were told that the only time that it could be charged is between 5pm and 10pm.”
Knowles, who worked alongside at least two other Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers that night, reported for duty at 10pm.
He said the unit is issued just one radio from the prison’s Control Room.
While on the stand, Knowles also told the court that he learned of Prison Corporal Dion Bowles’ death while “on the scene” in the Yamacraw Road area and not at the prison as highlighted in his statement to the police shortly after the incident.
“When I went to the prison, I went to confirm this (that Corporal Bowles was dead),” he said.
Jurors also heard that while the witness was aware that a fourth prisoner remained on the loose, he did not seek to find the inmate.
Testimony also came from two condemned inmates, Keith Jones and Davy Gibson.
Both admitted knowing the four inmates who had escaped – Neil Brown, Corey Hepburn, Barry Parcoi and Forrester Bowe – but also denied being a part of the plan to break out or hearing any of the cell bars being cut.
Jones occupied a cell only a few feet from Parcoi, Bowe and Brown. Gibson occupied a cell near Hepburn. The inmate claimed that the cell bars had not been checked since 2005.
He also told the court that he fell asleep around 11pm on January 16 and was awaked by Sergeant (Stephen) Sands after 3am.
“He shook the cell and said, ‘Jones, You in there.’ I said, ‘yeah’. I asked what happened and he told me fellas were escaping,” the inmate testified.
On Thursday Trono Davis, another murder convict, said he knew nothing about the escape plan.
He also denied having a hacksaw blade or attempting to cut his cell bars, even when reminded that officers had found a blade in his cell and shown photographs of the markings on his cell bars.
According to inmate Gibson, no checks of cells bars were made before the incident.
“They just started checking bars-They were never checked before,” he said.
When the inquest resumes on Monday, Principal Officer Van Johnson is expected to testify.
Johnson was called to the witness stand on Friday, but was cautioned that anything he said could be used against him and as such should have his counsel present.
Lead prosecutor Bernard Turner however told the court that efforts to contact Mr. Johnson’s attorney, Ian Cargill, were unsuccessful.
According to Coroner Virgill, whether or not Mr. Cargill appears, his client will testify on Monday.
The inquest resumes at 10am.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
