Is prison a means to an end?

Sep 26, 2008 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I narrate with great pity when I bring to your attention the fact that our Prison Service in Guyana seems to have become a dumping ‘ground/warehouse’.

Over the years, thousands of persons have been committed to the Prison System for minor offences such as larceny of fruits, loitering, noise nuisance and even possession of half (1/2) of a gram of marijuana.

The end result is that the society is automatically forced to bear the cost to upkeep these incident-minded rather than criminal-minded individuals, and sometimes for in excess of one calendar year.

On the other side of the coin, it is the Prison Officers who are ultimately compelled to alternately serve these sentences with those incident-minded individuals. This is so, since they are exposed to longer working hours due to the reducing numbers in their staff strength.

They are constantly exposed to dangerous and criminal minded individuals who are always willing to snuff out the life of an officer to gain their freedom.

They are exposed to managing persons of unsound mind (mentally challenged), who are sometimes beyond the state of reasoning and are also often violent in nature, and whose physical stature sometimes makes it difficult for one or more officers to restrain them.

Prison Officers are also exposed to persons with HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, Pox and many other communicable diseases. Officers are also exposed to ancient buildings and infrastructures with poor ventilation within a highly stressful environment, which often compounds their illnesses such as high blood pressure for even those officers in their early twenties.

Permit me and I may never finish this list, but I must ask, are you subjected to these conditions on a daily basis? Aren’t these conditions capable of bringing about the end of a Prison Officer? They need your help!

I am of the opinion that there are lots of other productive regimes that those incident-minded persons (petty offenders) can be exposed to instead of the Prison System. One such regime is community services:

probably having them attached to the City Constabulary and who knows maybe Georgetown can be returned to the “GARDEN CITY”.

Let me highlight that committing petty offenders to prison, especially the younger ones, is the same as having a complimentary ticket to hell.

It is often seen that on many occasions these persons do not have any family members, relatives or friends looking into their welfare nor providing the basic needs for them to properly serve their sentence.

As a result, many of these petty offenders often voluntarily and sometimes involuntarily are subjected to gross acts that persons of the same gender can commit to each other.

It is time for you to take the responsibility and guide your family, relatives and friends and deter them from crime or unfortunate incidents. Are you up to the challenge?

As I reflect on the multiplicity of burdensome and dangerous tasks assigned to Prison Officers, I must ask, “Have you ever considered the ridiculous ratio of the Custodial Staff to prisoners?”

I will enlighten you in a subsequent article but at this juncture, I must say it lends a hand to the breach of our National Security.

Now look around your exquisite air conditioned offices or homes and think: would you comfortably entertain a person with a nagging cough in your luxurious enclosure much less having the knowledge that that person has tuberculosis or any other airborne sickness?

Well these are not the choices a Prison Officer is permitted to make but what they are compelled to do in the execution of their duties; this certainly is a means to an end.

I am inclined to conclude by stating that as a Public Servant, I feel and share their pains and horrifying subjections. All for what! The upkeep of their families and to earn an honest dollar. These sacrifices remind me of some I came across in the Holy Bible.

Well, when a Prison Officer would have craftily and luckily maneuvered around those unpleasant situations mentioned above, they are now challenged to combat the manipulating forces of the law.

In the recent past, two Prison Officers were charged and placed before the courts for Neglect of Duties when faulty infrastructure would have lent support to a breach in the security at the Mazaruni Prisons. What a motivator!

This makes me remember the old saying “lil incidents left unnoticed does turn big one” and they certainly have grown. Y’all remember 2002 now!

This surely may bring about the end for many Prison Officers but I pray and ask God that it is now the tragic end. I still say it is better to be a magistrate or old police since it tends to influence persons in high places.
Concerned Public Servant

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