DISGRUNTLED prisoners at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in downtown Kingston, who have been on hunger strike since Monday, have been storing faeces and urine to douse correctional officers at the opportune time, according to Lambert Brown, vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU).

“Since Monday, the inmates have refused to leave their cells for recreation, and as a result, (they) have been storing up their faeces and urine to use as weapons against warders,” Brown told the Observer yesterday, noting that “inmates have used their human waste in the past as a lethal cocktail on warders”.

The hunger strike by the 1,725 prisoners was called to protest against poor living conditions, lack of proper, rehabilitation programmes and overcrowding at the institution.

Sources confirmed yesterday that prison boss, Major Richard Reece, had dispatched a psychiatrist and the institution’s chaplain, Renford Maddix, to counsel both inmates and correctional officers.

But the UAWU vice-president who described the situation as “tense”, said the correctional officers were “concerned for their safety”. In fact, he said, they appealed for assistance from the security forces as the inmates had become boisterous and intimidating.

Correctional officers carry regulation batons.

Yesterday, a tense calm hovered over the facility, with inmates allegedly threatening to kill foreign prisoners who refused to support the hunger strike. They are 15 foreign prisoners serving time at the facility.

“Their main concern is to speak with the minister (of national security) Dr Peter Phillips. I can tell you, the situation is getting explosive as new gang leaders are emerging in the system,” said a prison source who requested anonymity.

“Right now, the gang leaders are saying the strike will continue, for as long as possible, until someone in authority speak to them. Warders are edgy, and are being very careful because they don’t know when something will explode,” the source said.

Brown meanwhile urged Phillips to meet with the inmates before things spiralled out of control. “There would be all-round benefit to be gained for the minister to have dialogue with the people who have a grouse. It would certainly defuse the situation and avoid international exposure,” remarked Brown.

Reece, when contacted for a comment, asked the Observer to fax him the questions, but up to press time there was no response.

Meanwhile, the board of visitors for the Tower Street facility interviewed the prisoners on Tuesday, and according to board member Desmond Richards, the inmates, mainly the 250 at the overcrowded H North Block complained of :

. massive overcrowding;

. slow down in parole system;

. lack of judicial reform as it relates to sentencing;

. too many first-time offenders sent there instead of Tamarind

Farm and Richmond prisons;

. need speedy trial for the 300 awaiting trial there;

. upgrade medical facilities;

. need more vocational training;

. bad food; and

. dilapidated cells.

Richards said the dimensions of the cells, which accommodated six prisoners, were eight feet long, nine feet high by six feet wide.

He said the committee would be making an attempt to invite Chief Justice Lensley Wolf and the resident magistrate for Kingston to visit the institution to observe the condition of the prison. He said under the law, the resident magistrate was authorised to visit the prisons to ensure that the sentences are executed under conditions stipulated by the statutes.