A high-risk prisoner, in jail for over a decade awaiting trial for murder, lost his legal bid to return to the Maximum Security Prison. The prisoner, Rajaee Ali, was carted away by police along with nine others to prison facilities at the army base in Chaguaramas, hours after the state of emergency was declared on July 18.

Ali, the leader of a Carapo, Arima outfit, along with ten other men, were committed to stand trial for the assassination of special prosecutor Dana Seetahal, rushed to the High Court on July 18 seeking to be transferred back to the Arouca prison. Seetahal was shot dead on May 4, 2014, in Woodbrook while on her way home.

Ali was among a group of high-risk prisoners who were confined to Building 13 at the Maximum Security Prison for several years. Police and prison officers have raided that section of the prison on numerous occasions and recovered cellphones and even a loaded gun in one instance.