BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OFFICIALS at Her Majesty’s Prison have put a hold on the public visiting inmates at the correctional facility until an ongoing investigation is completed.
That announcement followed an incident over the last weekend when one of the residents was injured during a gang-related incident.
The incident was confirmed today (Sept. 26) by the Superintendent of Prisons, Juni Hodge, who could not provide details as prison officials are currently conducting investigations.
SKNVibes understands that rival gang members were engaging in a scuffle within the facility and one male resident was rushed to the J.N. France Hospital with injuries.
That incident has resulted in officials taking a decision to have the facility remain closed until further notice.
According to Hodge, the facility was already closed and was in the process of being reopened when the incident occurred.
“We had an incident at the institution, so we have put a halt on visitation for a while,” he said.
He told SKNVibes that the facility was closed prior in order to have the long-awaited full-body scanner installed.
That scanner was scheduled to be installed since 2016 after hundreds of contraband items were found in the prison following a brief period of closure.
Hodge, after taking up the post of Superintendent of Prisons, recommended changes to prison’s screening measures in order to minimize the inflow of contraband items.
