AN inmate involved in Tuesday’s riot at the Port of Spain Prison on Frederick Street has died on Friday. He was identified as Shurland “Big Mesh” Brown, a 26-year-old man of Balbaday Hill, Dibe, St James.

Brown was on remand, charged with the 2019 murder of Joshua Fortune on Balbaday Hill, Belle Vue Road, St James.

On Friday, Acting Commissioner of Prisons Deopersad Ramoutar said family had been notified of Brown’s death, and investigations were underway into the circumstances surrounding it.

“If there is any suspicion of foul play in these situations police are called in, but in this case police were already called in,” he said. He explained the officers investigating the riot were also looking into Brown’s death.

Asked on possible outcomes of the investigation, Ramoutar said he didn’t want to speculate but said there had been situations where prison officers were held responsible for deaths of prisoners while executing their duties.

“There have been situations that I can recall where officers spent years in prison without bail on a murder charge from incidents such as this.”

In a statement on Friday, the TT Prison Service extended condolences on Brown’s death. In it Deosaran noted the cause of Brown’s death had not yet been determined but would be revealed in an autopsy. He added that counselling services were offered to the inmates and family of the deceased if required. The prison brawl broke out on March 26, reportedly as a prison officer was escorting a prisoner to his cell at around 10.15 am.

Ramoutar in an earlier report said the prisoner was told to go into his cell and he refused, after which he became “violent and uncontrollable,” sparking an altercation between the two.

Several other prisoners jumped into the altercation, requiring the prison officers to use force to get control, which led to a free-for-all brawl within prison walls.

The incident lasted for about 10 minutes. At the end of the fracas 17 prison officers and six inmates were injured.

On Wednesday, a High Court judge, Justice Margaret Mohammed ordered three of the inmates involved in the riot, Kerry Valentino, Ayokie Charles and Ray Paul Julien, appear before her at a virtual hearing on March 28.

Attorney: Excessive force used

Brown’s attorney, Alexia Romero, says Brown’s family plans to press full charges. She said Brown was not involved in the initial incident and was badly beaten and unresponsive when he was taken to hospital on Tuesday.

She said pathologists are now testing to see if he had any illnesses.

“This is a young man. He had no history of any illness, but they are testing to see if he had. How could a man be standing and normal one day then suddenly be stricken by an infection or illness that hadn’t existed up to this point? There were eyewitnesses who saw that he was beaten.”

Romero said Brown was an innocent bystander in the incident and was still severely beaten.

“Based on my instructions from my clients, he had nothing to do with the initial altercation, but he received the back end of what