Vybz Kartel goes missing On Instagram for a month now amid his transferred to a new prison.
The rumors have been rampant following influential dancehall deejay Vybz Kartel’s disappearance from social media. The artist who allegedly regularly kept fans updated about his life through Instagram from behind bars suddenly stopped posting. His last post was on May 20.
His attorney, Isat Buchanan, has revealed that this may be because the incarcerated star has been transferred from the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre to the Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston. Buchanan made the disclosure to Observer Online during an interview.
“Kartel has been moved from Spanish Town to Horizon Remand,” he said.
Before the revelation, there had been some talk that Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, was transferred. His transfer was said to be part of the government’s plans to move high-ranking criminals to some newly constructed cells at Horizon Remand. The 24 new cells are also said to be designed to specifically restrict inmates’ access to cell phones.
According to the Observer, they were also informed by a source that “Kartel is in a cell where the soldiers are stationed right there in front of him”. Even though no official timeline has been given for when the transfers happen, sources indicate that it may have been shortly after his last post.
In 2018, he was transferred from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston to the St Catherine District prison. That transfer happened suddenly and may have been caused because of a video showing him smoking a blunt which surfaced just a few days before the move.
In March 2020, authorities launched an investigation after news broke that he was live on Instagram. At that time, retired Commissioner of Corrections, Lieutenant Colonel Gary Rowe, revealed that an investigation had been launched because it was “being alleged by some social media users that Kartel went live on Instagram last night.”
After a cell raid, they reportedly discovered a phone in the deejay’s cell. Kartel is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams. His defense team is hoping to appeal his sentence at the Privy Council.
