Justice Minister Christlyn Moore says a fresh round of police investigations into the death of prisoner Ralph Placid Lima is to take place to determine if any prisons officer may be culpable.
Moore said so in an interview with reporters at the Parliament yesterday.
She said a preliminary report was presented to her by acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams.
“A second round of inquiry is about to commence to ascertain whether any prison officers may have been culpable in this event,” she said.
And in a release issued later, Moore said the death was unacceptable.
“The circumstances of Mr Lima’s death were unacceptable and pointed to the responsibility which now lies with the police and prisons officials to unearth the details of this tragedy,” she said.
She also extended condolences to Lima’s family, saying her ministry was working to improve conditions for both prisoners and prisons officers.
Lima, 49, of Lilly Street, Siparia, died on Monday after he was reportedly beaten in a cell at the Remand Yard of the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca.
Preliminary reports said that on Sunday night, Lima got into an altercation with ten inmates.
A post-mortem conducted at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Monday evening said he died of blunt-force trauma.
A second autopsy was requested by his family and it was performed by pathologist Dr Hubert Daisley on Thursday.
Daisley’s report revealed that most of Lima’s ribs had been broken and his lower intestine was ruptured as a result of a blunt object being forced in his rectum. He had also been stabbed.
In an interview earlier this week, Prisons Commissioner Martin Martinez said an interim report on the incident, produced by senior officers at the facility, was forwarded to Moore and Minister of National Security Emmanuel George.
After the incident several inmates and officers who were on duty when Lima died were interviewed by investigators.
Detectives of the Region Two Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations.