Concern spread across Anguilla on Tuesday morning this week as fireman fought to put out a fire on the roof of the Segregation Unit of HM Prison, which housed ten prisoners at the time. The matter is being investigated with the suspicion being that the fire was deliberately caused.

Low quality of photos due to perimeter fence.

The flames erupted across the ridge of the roof where the thin metal-like covering material melted, sending the fire down to the wooden section. The fire was eventually put out as the firemen hosed water on the building from both the south and north sides of the roof.

The fire occurred around 7.00 a.m. and led to the swift evacuation of the ten prisoners who are now accommodated in the cells at the nearby Police Headquarters. During the course of the evacuation a skirmish occurred in the yard among some of the prisoners. One prisoner, who was beaten, was treated at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and discharged. It is said that the fight was gang-related, a spill over from that type of violence in some of the island’s communities.

It is believed that if any of the inmates caused the fire that it was done when prisoners from other areas of the facility were outside engaged in their regular exercises. It is suspected that a piece of lighted material may have been thrown on the roof of the building.

The situation not only highlights the difficulties and dangers to which Prison Officers and other staff members are exposed, but the problem posed by the location of the prison, where unauthorised persons can easily make contact with prisoners. As a consequence prisoners are constantly being found with certain objects including cellular phones which could have been supplied from outside the fence.

The prison population is said to include a number of persons who are not only unruly, but a negative influence to other inmates on the road to rehabilitation and release.

The damage to the roof of the Segregation Unit is now being urgently repaired to re-house the prisoners now at Police Headquarters. Meanwhile there were some 65 inmates at the prison this week.

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