Questions remain about prisoner at football game
It’s been four working days since the Minister responsible for Prisons said he would be launching an inquiry into why a prison inmate, Raymond Flowers was at a football game in Belize City — apparently unsupervised — on November seventh. The matter is still not resolved. Today, News Five was finally able to obtain a comment from the acting Superintendent of Prisons Jennifer Lovell. She denied that Flowers had escaped while on special leave as reported elsewhere in the media, but said that full details could not be released since the matter is still under investigation. All she would say is that Flowers left the institution on Friday November fifth, accompanied by three prison warders who were supposed to supervise him. She would not say when he returned to jail or why he was not wearing a Department of Corrections uniform while off the compound. She also would not comment on how Flowers and his “supervisors” wound up at the football game or why they were out of uniform. Lovell did say that those involved would be “reprimanded”. She would not comment on allegations that Flowers started a fight at the game. The Minister responsible for Prisons Dickie Bradley could not be reached for comment, but told News Five last week that the special leave program has been put on hold in the wake of the incident with Raymond Flowers. He says only non-violent prisoners are supposed to be granted special leave to seek medical attention, visit dying relatives or attend funerals. They must be in uniform and accompanied by a uniformed warder at all times. With the suspension of the leaves this weekend, Bradley asked the Ministry of National Security to post B.D.F. and police personnel near the prison in Hattieville as an added security measure. It has been widely speculated in the media that Flowers is a suspect in the murder of Raymond Williams and the subsequent shooting at the corner of Mayflower and Vernon Streets. However the police told News Five that at no time Flowers was considered a suspect.
