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Officers fear security threat at Georgetown Prison

Feb 15, 2011 News

By Rabindra Rooplall
Fear of a pending escape combined with other issues at the Georgetown Prison has prison officers concerned about the severe shortage of staff and their safety inside the prison.
According to prison warder, Jermaine Charles,  who is stationed at Georgetown Prison and has been working there since 2007, the prison is very understaffed. The officer in charge has been reshuffling prison officers based on accusation of prisoners, some have been interdicted or transferred.
“The officers are home and their cases are still pending. At the same time there is a shortage of staff.”
He said that many prison officers share the same concerns but are afraid to come forward since they fear victimisation.
“It’s a norm when you talk out against the administration; they put you in black box. You can’t be promoted; since you slip is an interdiction.”
Charles further said that recently he was interdicted for being excessively physical with a prisoner while parting a fight. “I was trying to get the prisoner out of the location. I had to manhandle him to get him out the building.”
However, he noted that other wardens have been beating prisoners on umpteen occasions and there has been no interdiction or any penalty attached to their actions. “These are officers who are known friends of the officer in charge.”
Another burning issue of concern for the wardens, Charles noted, is the preparation of food for officers. He said that this has been happening since last year when a 12-hour shift was implemented.
“We are afraid that these prisoners have plans to escape, and we don’t know if they are working the kitchen and will in any way collaborate with other prisoners to harm officers by putting stuff into their foods…Officers food should not be prepared by prisoners.”
Charles said, “They keep telling us security is first and foremost, but they themselves are not showing any interest in the security of the prison.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            He disclosed that recently information surfaced that a prisoner was overheard saying on a cell phone that a .38 should be thrown over the fence. “The officer in charge has that information…nothing has been done to boost security in the yard.”
He said wardens raised their concerns with officers at various levels but nothing has been done. “We have no means of getting our voices heard; nobody seems to be concerned about the welfare of officers.”
The prison officer said that there is need for an aggressive approach to recruit additional and qualified human resources within the Guyana Prison Service.
Last year, it was noted that the prison population was a staggering 26:1 inmate/officer ratio which highlights the plight of the Guyana Prison Service.
Within recent years, the prison population has grown disproportionately to the level of staff to man the various penal facilities throughout the country.
At the Georgetown Prison, inmates on remand alone stand at a staggering figure above 800 and with the penchant of Magistrates to remand persons, it is expected that the situation will continue to overwhelm prison authorities if they fail to attract adequate staff.
The situation has become so dire that on several occasions, prison authorities have been faced with mini-riots and threats of unrest.
When this publication contacted the Director of Prison’s Dale Erskine for a comment, a representative said that he was at a meeting and was unable to take a call.

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