The Georgetown Prison Monstrosity must go

Oct 08, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
Those persons, who are alive, and have been advocating over the years for the removal of the Georgetown Prison from its present site must be bursting with delight with the announcement made by the Minister of Public Security and published in the Guyana Chronicle of Monday 28th, September, 2015. Never-the-less, in addition to the element of pleasure at the Minister’s statement, one must consider the full ramifications of such a statement.
The Minister’s statement must not be taken lightly. It should not be construed as a spontaneous verbal reflex response to the press corps to counter the collapse of a structure within the prison and the partial breach of the prison perimeter wall. For many years prison officials and members of the public had expressed displeasure at the threat of danger to the public posed by the location of the prison as it is presently situated. Its architectural unsightliness also scars the aesthetical blend of the surrounding neighbourhood.
This writer recalls the bold statement –”this monstrosity must go” – made in 1966 by the last expatriate Director of Prison, Mr. Ronald Aitken and carried in one of the newspapers of the day. Many citizens have since echoed similar statements over the years. Several notifications, complaints and requests were made in the Prison Annual Reports dating back to the 1960s and later years.
Prisons are the foundation on which a well organised Criminal Justice System rests. The effectiveness of the Justice System for the fair and efficient application of the Rule of Law is determined by the perception and/ or the proficiency of the Prison System to protect the socially compliant members of society from the criminally deviant class within the society. The prison break of 2002 and the carnage which followed should have been a wakeup call to seriously act on taking the necessary steps to explore its relocation.
Over the years hasty and ad hoc steps of construction and reconfigurations have been undertaken to adjust the living and sleeping areas to accommodate for the continuous increase in the prison population. For example, pre 1960 cells in the main Wooden block and the Brick block were converted from one person cells to three person cells by removing the centre wall between two cells. A dormitory was built over the sedentary labour shed to cope with the influx of inmates from the disturbances of the early 1960s. The Tailor Shop was subsequently utilised for sleeping accommodation for the ever increasing bulging inmate population.
I was invited to the Religious Service within the Prison about seven or eight years ago, on the anniversary of the Guyana Prison Service. The compound looked like a maze. It confounded the imagination to figure out how the staff and security responders could have effectively performed their tasks. After the service, at the breakfast reception, I raised the proposition for the removal of the Georgetown Prison with Minister Rohee. I was told spontaneously that it would cost one hundred million dollars (Guy$100,000,000) to do so. My response was, if that was the case, a commitment could be made to budget an allocation of ten million dollars($10,000,000) per year, to undertake the works necessary to proceed with phased works until the completion of a new prison over ten years.
There is always the argument that prisons have to compete with the medical system, the educational system, physical infrastructure and other demands for the scarce financial resources of the country, but a start is necessary. It is hoped that the recent statement by the present Minister of Public Security is a serious one. Site selection would, however, be of primary importance. Location on an island may give the perception of isolation and ostracism from the open society but many factors such as soil types for the buildings must be considered. Installation of utilities such as water, electricity, telecommunications and sewerage must be accessible. Logistics for the movement of prisoners to courts and hospitals, housing for staff, available schools at the levels of primary and secondary, play fields, places of entertainment must be considered among the major requirements.
Prisons are indispensable institutions of society and public security; the Minister’s statement must be taken with the seriousness it deserves.
Byron W. Henry
Former Director of Prisons

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The Georgetown Prison Monstrosity must go

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