Prisoner escapes Covid isolation room using bedsheet (+video)

An inmate who escaped a COVID-19 induced isolation by using a bedsheet to scale the building from the window of his room, told the court that he was frustrated at having no one to speak to.

Thirty-five-year-old Alanzo Bailey of Old Montrose was taken to the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court (KMC) this week on a charge that, on April 4, he escaped lawful custody at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).

Bailey admitted his guilt and the facts of the case were read by Prosecutor, Corporal 458 Delando Charles. It is said the ‘Block 2000’ resident was serving a sentence at Her Majesty’s Prisons in Kingstown when he fell ill. He was taken to the MCMH where he tested positive for the Coronavirus and was placed in isolation at the male medical ward. On the date of the escape, a prison guard was stationed outside the isolation room because he was not allowed to go inside. At around 4:40 p.m he noticed the defendant pacing up and down behind the door. Shortly afterwards the guard left to go to the wash room. He returned from the wash room at around 4:50 p.m. The nurse made checks inside the room and discovered that Bailey was not there. She informed the guard, who confirmed that the prisoner was no longer there. He noticed a white bedsheet hanging outside.

The supervisor was informed and a search party was dispatched and secured him on the same day.

Senior Magistrate, Rickie Burnett first noted that the criminal record before him could not be up to date because it listed Bailey’s last conviction as being in 2021 and the penalty as one month in prison.

The defendant informed the court that he had been given an 18 month sentence for burglary at the start of this year.

When it came to his reason for using a sheet to escape isolation, Bailey began by explaining that he had told the nurses about persons walking on a ledge outside and coming from the ceiling that was falling in.

The patient’s perception was that one of the medications being given to him was for “crazy” people.

He clarified that he was not crazy, “so I get frustrate.”

Bailey explained further, and that he was alone in the room and, “me ain get nobody for talk to.”

The magistrate reminded Bailey that he was in isolation because of Covid.

The defendant said that he could speak with his brother from behind the door but wasn’t able to see his mother.

When asked how long his plan to escape took, Bailey said he didn’t plan it. The windows, he said, are easy to pound out.

“Having used that sheet to get out of the hospital itself, from the bed, where did you go?,” Burnett asked him.

“I try fuh reach home,” he responded, saying that he saw the prison officers there when he arrived.

“So you didn’t get to reach home?” the magistrate asked, and Bailey said no. He pointed out that he could have hidden but didn’t and just gave himself in.

On the topic of his reason for escaping, Bailey again repeated , “I was in the room, uncomfortable…like frustrated, nobody to talk to or nuttin.”

“I’m trying to understand you,” the senior magistrate noted. “…If you are isolated during Covid, that cannot be a pleasant experience,” he added.

“(it) did make me feel ah kinda how,” Bailey admitted.

“While what you did was wrong I have to appreciate what was in your mind at the particular time when you did this,” the magistrate told him.

“Yeah I know I’m wrong for escaping,” the defendant said.

A clarification on the time within which Bailey was recaptured was sought and it was revealed that it had been around one hour before the inmate was secured.

The prosecutor said that upon hearing the defendant he thinks he understands the state of mind he was in at the time and, “I think he knew what he was doing, he was in his own mind.”

“Yeah because he escaped at the time when no one was watching him,” the magistrate said.

The prosecution asked that this be taken into consideration.

Burnett indicated that that was important and hadn’t escaped him.

The Corporal said that the prosecution will differ with the defendant on the point of his preparation for the escape – as he knew the guard was not there and used the sheet which was torn in two in order to reach its full length.

The magistrate agreed that he must have taken time and decided what he was going to do.

Further questioning revealed that the defendant was going home to see his mother because he couldn’t see her.

“Yeah because you were in isolation. When you were in prison do you see your mother?” the magistrate asked him, to which he replied, yes, but when asked how often, he noted “not often”.

“If you wanted to see your mother why you get in trouble to go in jail?” Burnett asked, “If you want to see your mother stay out of trouble.”

The judicial officer said that Bailey’s criminal record is “not a good one” with previous convictions for attempted burglary, theft and damage to property.

“Based on your record, you’re always in prison so I don’t understand how wanting to see your mother is a factor or excuse on your part. And based on what I’m seeing here, as soon as you’re out of prison, you’re back in,” Burnett said.

Addressing the prosecutor, the magistrate recalled a recent conversation that he had with a stranger who called out to him in the compound of the High Court.

“…he approached me and he wanted to have a conversation with me and what he was saying to me is that sometimes the police, and the judicial officers as well maybe, need to pay more attention to the effect of certain things on the individual at the time when they commit an offence,” he related.

The person reminded of a case where an individual was a Diabetic and revealed that he is also a Diabetic, and, “he was drawing to my attention that when persons have those sort of conditions, it affects what they do.”

The individual was of the view that the necessary authorities do not pay enough attention to this.

The magistrate reminded therefore, although noting that it was not something he was not unaware of, that there are certain considerations to pay attention to, “that ordinarily we may not at first glance pay attention to them.”

The magistrate said that he said this to make the point that at the time Bailey had Covid, “and that must have had an effect on him.”

He ultimately decided to impose a prison sentence that would run at the same time as the current prison term that the inmate is serving.

The maximum for the offence is three years in prison, he said, and, “Having regard to the facts and circumstances of this case I am minded to impose and I am going to impose a sentence of three months in prison and it will run concurrent to the sentence that the defendant has currently been doing.”

Burnett told the defendant he put the lives of others at risk during the hour that he escaped from the hospital. Bailey indicated that his Covid was “gone” at the time he made his bolt.