Steve Labonne, a notorious recidivist in drug trafficking crimes, was battered to death last Monday at Grand-River-North-West prison. Two more prisoners, Naushad Jeewoo and Patrick Sioux, were severely injured and transferred to hospital for treatment.

A fight, involving some 50 detainees, had started the day before between two gangs. According to the prison authorities, each of the two gangs was trying to control drug trafficking in the prison.

This hypothesis was confirmed on Monday evening, after Dr Sudesh Kumar Gungadin and Dr Maxwell Monvoisin performed an autopsy on Steve Labonne’s body. They found eight doses of heroin stuffed in his mouth.

According to the Anti-drug and smuggling unit (ADSU), drug trafficking in prison generates some Rs 600 000 per week, the equivalent of 50 grams of heroine.

The authorities are unable to stop the drugs entering the prisons. Moreover, this illegal business is so profitable that some detainees do not hesitate to use violence to control the peddling as well as to dominate other prisoners.

This is what happened to Steve Labonne at GRNW prison. He certainly knew what a cash cow the drug business was. He was well known to the ADSU as he had been arrested several times for drug-related offences.

According to the authorities, a violent fight started between Steve Labonne’s gang and Sharad Karamtally’s. As a result, Steve Labonne was stabbed to death. Several prisoners brutally hit him with chains, cutters and “sabres”. The GRNW prison had to call in the Groupe d’Intervention de la Police Mauricienne (GIPM) the Special Mobile Force, the Special Supporting Unit, and finally the Prison Security Squad.

The multitude of wounds on Steve Labonne’s body shows how savagely he was attacked. He was mutilated: his body received 45 stab-wounds, his arm was practically severed at the wrist, and he had a fractured skull.

The investigation has revealed that the two main suspects in the fatal aggression of Steve Labonne are Sharad Karamtally, 22 years old, and Tony Mootien, 25 years old, both in prison for drug trafficking.

<B>Drugs, weapons and mobile phones</B>

Last Tuesday, the suspects participated in a reconstitution: they gave some details about where they were during the fight and the part they played in it. Then, they were taken to Port-Louis Court under a provisional charge of murder. Meanwhile, the prison security guards, helped by the police, raided the prison cells to find drugs, weapons and mobile telephones.

Such a lack of control on the part of the authorities is worrying. Some police officers consider that “the problem could have been avoided had prison authorities intervened earlier. Instead, they let the problem between the detainees get worse.”

Bill Duff, the commissioner of prisons, on holiday in the UK, is expected back on 25th July. Whereas government has not commented, the leader of the opposition, Paul Bérenger, who hired the latter, said that Duff “has done his best but that the former government did not do its best concerning the situation in the prisons.” A high-powered committee has been set up by to look into the matter and decide how to improve things.