INMATES at the Spanish Town lock-up in St Catherine yesterday refused to eat the State-provided meals following a decision by officials to suspend visits by relatives after several items of contraband were discovered in the cells.

Up to press time it was not clear if the inmates had ended the hunger strike.

Yesterday, the inmates' irate relatives, who had turned up at the station with dinner and items of clothing, waited for hours outside the chain link fence to the station in the hope that the police would at least take the items from them.

Instead, they were greeted by a notice on the wall advising that there has been a cessation of visits until further notice.

Many peered over the walls of the adjoining plaza in the hope of catching a glimpse of any movement from the lock-up. But after the police failed to relent, the crowd of mainly women left dejected.

Some complained that they were coming from as far away as Old Harbour and Linstead for the usual Sunday visit. Inmates at the lock-up are only allowed visits on Wednesdays and Sundays.

An inspector at the station, who did not speak on an official basis, told the Observer that breakfast and lunch were taken to the inmates but they had refused to eat.

He, however, would not provide any information on why the decision was taken to suspend visits, noting instead that he was merely following instructions from Superintendent Assan Thompson.

"See, they have their food around there and they are not eating it so there is nothing we can do," he said.

Calls to Superintendent Thompson's phone went unanswered and a message left for him was not returned up to press time.

But the relatives said they have been reliably informed that the inmates have been without water since Friday.

They said they were told by one policeman that they were being denied access to the inmates because two bottles of gasoline and 28 knives were found in the cells.

They told the Observer that the inmates have been denied visits since Wednesday.

One woman who said she travelled all the way from Luidas Vale with food for her son, said he is wearing the same shorts and top since Wednesday as she has not been allowed to give him his clothes.

The relatives said they were chased away from inside the station by police who threatened to teargas them if they did not leave.

"Me have all me sick son in there who have pneumonia and me can't even get him medication to him," said one woman.

"Me have me last money and take it pay fare from way a Old Harbour fi come see me brother and me can't see him," said one despondent woman.

She pointed out that not all the men behind bars were criminals as some were taken there in raids by the police for processing.

One woman said a man who was locked up two days ago because he failed to walk fast enough past a police cordon had cooked food and taken it back for some of them because of the conditions he witnessed inside.

"The man was just here with the whole heap a food weh him carry back for them because him say them don't even have water since Friday," one woman told the Observer.