Prison staff breached several standard operating procedures that caused ‘Smallie’ escape.

By Michael Jordan

-vessel should not have been allowed to remain in close proximity to prison

– interpreter should have been present during visits by Spanish-speaking woman

-junior prison staff escorted high-profile inmate

-team with automatic rifles should have been ‘battle-ready’ when gunfire started

Several ‘serious security breaches’ by staff at the Mazaruni Prison contributed to yesterday’s brazen escape by convicted mass killer Royden “Smallie” Williams.

This was revealed to Big Smith News Watch by sources with knowledge of the penal system  and procedures regarding death row inmates and other hard core prisoners.

One serious lapse was the fact that no rank with foreign language skills was reportedly present when a Spanish-speaking woman was visiting Williams prior to his escape.

According to sources, prison officers are authorized to listen in during such visits.

“Williams knows Spanish well. They should have had an interpreter present.”

But the sources are convinced that ‘Smallie’ and his accomplices had been planning the escape for some time.

According to one source, once Williams and the visitor began to converse in Spanish, “the supervising officer should have immediately brought the conversation to a halt and gotten an interpreter.”

Responding to questions about security lapses, Director of Prisons Nicklon Elliott told Big Smith News Watch that police and prison officials are “reviewing all documents” to ascertain whether there were lapses.

And the sources are insistent that the authorities should have prevented the boat that transported the heavily armed gunmen from ‘lingering’ in close proximity to the prison.

Mazaruni Prison

“The fact that the boat was allowed to linger and not be challenged is a breach,” one source said. Even tour vessels are reportedly dissuaded from venturing close to the prison.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were also reportedly breached when junior officers, rather than senior staff, escorted Williams.  

Big Smith News Watch understands that the ranks escorting Williams would most likely have been carrying small arms.

However, a task force, with automatic rifles, is supposed to be in place at Mazaruni. 

“There should be an emergency stand by unit that should have , been battle-ready from the time shots were fired.”

“Based on what I saw in a video (of the escape) with that firepower (the gunmen’s Ak-47s) and with no immediate response (from prison officers), they could have moved into the yard and freed other people. “The minute they opened one cell it would be chaos. The prison population outnumbers the officers, who include females.

Even the ones who were escorting Williams are lucky to have escaped injury free.”

WAS ‘SMALLIE’ CLEARED TO HAVE VISITORS?

One troubling question that authorities are investigating is whether ‘Smallie’ was cleared to have visitors.

A section of the laws of Guyana pertaining to visits for prisoners under sentence of death states that “except with the written permission of the director, no other person other than a member of the prison staff, the medical officer or a minister of the religious denomination to which the prisoner belongs, shal have access to any prisoner under sentence of death.’

But Article 355(1) of the laws also state that a person under sentence of death may be visited by “relatives, friends, and legal advisers as he desires to see and as are authorized to visit him by an order in writing   From the officer in charge, but he shall not receive a visit from more than two persons at the same time.”

Big Smith News Watch understands that an individual who wishes to visit such a prisoner at the Mazaruni penitentiary must uplift a pass from Prison Headquarters, in Georgetown.

 If the visitor is residing at Bartica, they can uplift a pass at the Bartica Police Station, but only after this is cleared by prison authorities.

The visitor has to present this pass to the captain of the vessel that is transporting them to the prison.

During today’s press conference, Minister of home Affairs Robeson Benn said  that Williams and his accomplices are believed to be still in Guyana, “in the general area of the event.”

Minister Benn said the gunmen are Guyanese “of the criminal ilk.”

He stated that after fleeing in a boat, Williams and the three gunmen went ashore close to the Baracara Quarry, located three to four miles from Mazaruni Prison, after the boat engine failed.

The boat was recovered, while the captain was detained.

The woman who had visited Williams prior to the attack was arrested at the Mazaruni Prison, while three prison officers are also being questioned.