Prisoner beaten by fellow inmates

Also out of Hattieville, a young man visited our studios today looking like he’d just picked a fight with Mike Tyson. Glenford Middleton alleges that while on remand for charges of theft and robbery at the prison, he was beaten up by five inmates. Middleton says he managed to get the attention of the guard, but maintains he was denied immediate medical assistance.

Glenford Middleton

“I just went there, and the officer opened the cell. I never saw anybody else in there, but I see this curtain dropped in front of the bed and four more persons were at the back, but the officer locked the door and when I went to see who was at the back, the guys were coming at me the same time with two machetes and just started to chop me. I tried to protect myself and snatched one of the machetes and I got cut in my hand. I got cut here, got chopped in my head and at the back here. I hollered for the officer while I was holding the machete and the officer came to the cell and tried to open the cell for me. He never did try to take away the machete from the guy or nothing, they just locked back the cell with them in there, and moved me from there and took me to another cell way over to the next area over by the boot camp or somewhere.”

Janelle Chanona

“Now you were telling me earlier that you didn’t get medical attention for quite sometime?”

Glenford Middleton

“No, they took me and locked my down first, then they took me upstairs to the medic when they saw me start to bring up blood. Then this morning I was bringing up too much blood out of my nose and mouth, and so they dealt with me up there. The had stitched me up already, and then they took me back upstairs and gave me one pills to drink and made me wait for several hours and then they took me to the front and placed some ice on my face. That’s all they’ve done with me so far. The officer himself, say that they are afraid to go to the back of the prison because of how the people are at the back there. They crowd you if you go back there, and right now the inmates have up to guns in their cells.”

According to Governor of Prisons Bernard Adolphus, the incident was gang related and is still under investigation. Adolphus maintains that the prison’s doctor saw Middleton right after he was attacked. Adolphus says prison wardens conducted a search of the cells in maximum security and all weapons found were confiscated.