Prisoner posting on social networking site

Up to press time on Wednesday, police were on the hunt at Her Majesty’s Prisons for a Blackberry smartphone, which they believe is being used by a prisoner to make posts and upload photographs on social networking site Facebook.{{more}}

It is suspected that the account belongs to remand prisoner, 27-year-old Alaskie “Beaver” Samuel, whose image appears as the profile photograph, and who appears in several photographs posted on the Wall of the Facebook account. The account also bears the name “Alaskie Samual”, whose date of birth is given on the page as May 12, 1985.

Two persons familiar with the appearance of the cells at the Kingstown lockup identified the setting of the photographs as Her Majesty’s Prisons in Kingstown.

According to the Facebook Timeline, the account was set up just about a month ago, on June 10, after which posts began to be made from the account.

The account holder then began amassing friends, and by press time on Wednesday evening, “Alaskie Samual” had 70 friends.

On June 13, the user of the account posted two photographs on Searchlight’s Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/Searchlight1), one of a toilet bowl, the other of a tap with water running from it into a sink. The photographs were captioned “Unsanitary Toilet in Kingston remand prison” and “Wasting water in Kingston remand prison” respectively. The next day, two more photographs were posted from the account to Searchlight’s page, one which the poster claimed to be “blood sucking bugs”, the other, a photograph of “biting marks on an imate in svg remand prison.”

The following day, June 14, the poster got even more brazen, and uploaded three photographs of young men presently on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison. In one of the photographs, the three men’s faces are partially covered by handkerchiefs; in another, two of the men appear to be smoking.

The account went quiet for about two weeks, then on June 30, at 5:49 p.m. seven new photographs were uploaded by Blackberry smartphone.

On Tuesday this week, four additional photographs were uploaded. Two of them at 2:16 p.m, and another two at 4:57 p.m. These most recent photographs show three inmates in groups of two and three in different poses.

After being alerted by a Facebook user on Tuesday evening, police immediately made a search of the prison compound, but no phone was found.

Another extensive search, made on Wednesday morning, turned up nothing. This was confirmed by Commissioner of Police Keith Miller, when contacted by SEARCHLIGHT.

According to one source, the Blackberry smartphone being used to access the social networking site also apparently survived a raid by police of the Kingstown prison last week, when 22 mobile phones were confiscated.

Since the discovery of the Facebook account, Samuel has been isolated from the other prisoners, SEARCHLIGHT has been informed.

One person opined that although the photographs are being taken in prison, there is the possibility that the photographs are then passed to someone on the outside, who is uploading them to Facebook.

The Kingstown prison is home to approximately 163 prisoners, made up of men who are on remand, sentenced prisoners who are considered high-risk and those on death row.

In April this year, over 240 sentenced prisoners were transferred to the brand new EC$18.7 million Correctional Facility at Belle Isle on the Leeward side of the island.

Alaskie “Beaver” Samuel, of Redemption Sharpes, has been on remand at Her Majesty’s Prisons since March 2007, when he was charged with the murder of Ishmael Byron, 23, of Campden Park, an offence which police believe took place between April 29 and May 5, 2006. Byron’s lifeless body was discovered in the York Mountains in Campden Park, with a single gunshot wound to his upper back.

Samuel was initially charged with the murder along with Carlo “Bondo” Free and Fitz-Allan “Wizzy” Bramble, both of Sion Hill. Free and Bramble were, however, freed on September 11, 2007, when two no-case submissions made on their behalf were upheld during the Preliminary Inquiry at the Serious Offences Court.

Samuel was left to face the charge alone; however, since then, the matter has traversed several sittings of the criminal assizes. Director of Public Prosecutions Colin Williams told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday that Samuel’s matter is pending.