Richmond Hill Prison is a prison in Saint George's, the capital of

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

. Known officially as His Majesty's Prison, it is run by the Ministry of National Security. The prison governor is Dr John Mitchell, the Commissioner of Prisons in Grenada. The prison has separate sections for male and female prisoners. it held 463 prisoners, more than double its official capacity of 198.

History

The prison is on land that was used to house a military hospital since the late 18th century and the current building was converted into a prison in 1880. The wing for female prisoners was added in 1904. The Grenadian politician

Bernard Coard Winston Bernard Coard (born 10 August 1945) is a Grenada, Grenadian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister in the People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada), People's Revolutionary Government of the New Jewel Movement. Coard launched a coup ...

and other members of the

Grenada 17 The Grenada 17 were the seventeen political, military and civilian figures convicted of various crimes associated with the 1983 overthrow of Maurice Bishop's government of Grenada and his subsequent murder. History In October 1983, various offi ...

were imprisoned in Richmond Hill Prison. In a report in 2003,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

described the conditions they were kept in as inhumane. The last of the Grenada 17 prisoners were released in 2009. On 25 October 1983, as part of the

U.S. invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a Caribbean Peace Force, coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fur ...

, the U.S. armed forces'

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

attempted to capture Richmond Hill Prison to retrieve political prisoners, flying in on helicopters operated by the

160th Aviation Battalion The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), abbreviated as 160th SOAR (A), is a special operations force of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for special operations forces. Its missions have include ...

. The raid on the prison lacked vital intelligence, including the fact that several anti-aircraft guns defended it, and that the prison was on a steep hill without room for a helicopter to land. Anti-aircraft fire wounded passengers and crew and forced one MH-60 helicopter to crash land. The Black Hawk pilot was killed, but a Navy SH-3H helicopter rescued 11 crash survivors.

References

Prisons in Grenada 1880 establishments Buildings and structures in St. George's, Grenada {{grenada-stub