Jurors hearing evidence in the Coroner’s Court inquest into the deaths of a prison guard and an inmate were yesterday delayed from viewing the entire chain of events leading up to the January prison break because of technical problems with the surveillance video.
Coroner Linda Virgill was hoping to view the entire tape along with jurors, counsel and members of the media, but after several failed attempts to fast forward the time coded recordings to 2:06am of January 17, the decision was taken to postpone the viewing until the inquest resumes today at 10am.
But before the decision was made to adjourn, the court saw that on Monday, January 16 around 10:18pm, slain officer Corporal Dion Bowles and Officer Kenneth Sweeting made a check of the C-block of the Maximum Security wing.
The black and white images – collected from the prison’s surveillance recordings – were projected onto a wall in the courtroom and showed one of the officers apparently talking to one of the inmates on the cellblock.
Based on the video, around 11:20pm, one of the inmates on cellblock 16 – 24 stuck his hand through the cell bars, followed by another inmate.
The court saw how at this point the first prisoner threw what appeared to be a white piece of paper and a brown package to another inmate, who fished the items into his cell.
This prompted the prosecution to ask prison officer Travis Bowe, who was explaining the video images to the court, if passing items was a regular occurrence captured on tape.
According to the witness, it was.
Bowe, who is attached to the prison’s surveillance unit, also explained that at the time of the escape there were three shifts for that department – a 6am to 2pm, 8am to 4pm, 2pm to 10pm.
The first surveillance video also showed the critical moments before and after slain prison officer Corporal Bowles checked the rear section of Maximum Security for the last time.
Based on the footage shown, it was around 4:10am on January 17 that Corporal Bowles walked to the rear section of Maximum Security’s C-block.
A minute later, the lights in the corridor appeared to go out and two images, presumably of inmates, were seen.
According to the footage, which was time coded around 4:12am, one of the men, believed to be an inmate, ran down the corridor, followed by two others.
Several more moments passed and it was around 4:26am that four officers appeared on the screen, one holding a flashlight, attempting to untie Corporal Bowles.
Apparently unable to do so, the men picked up the slain prison offer and carried him out of Maximum Security, as other witnesses have testified.
The inquest is aimed at determining what led to the deaths of Corporal Bowles, as well as prison inmate Neil Brown.
In another development, Michael Hanna, the attorney for Brown’s mother, Bettymae Trotman, made a request for two applications – that jurors be permitted to return to the Yamacraw Road area, where it is alleged that Brown, Forrester Bowe and Barry Parcoi were recaptured shortly after their escape.
Hanna also requested that jurors view the bus that transported the three former escapees back to the prison.
Several witnesses have given evidence that suggests that Brown was killed on the vehicle.
But Coroner Virgill insisted that if the attorney had some concern, he alone should visit Yamacraw.
In the case of jurors examining the prison bus, the coroner stressed both the time and money involved.
She did however point out that while both requests were very valid, they are totally irrelevant in such proceedings, but instead arise from the criminal aspect.
Also appearing at the proceedings on Wednesday was attorney Dion Smith, who is representing the interests of Officer Sandy Mackey.
Several witnesses have named Mackey as the officer who shot Brown after he was recaptured. Brown was reportedly handcuffed at the time.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
