Another analytical look at the prison riots

Mar 10, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Permit me a few lines in your newspaper, merely to pen my opinion. The statements that hereafter will follow should not be looked upon as an indictment of anyone person or party. Let me first state that the recent prison riot and its deadly sequelae should go down in the annals of Guyanese history as being an exemplar of bureaucratic, governmental and penal failings, not to mention incompetence. Viewed from a different perspective the outside world can view the deceased as either villains who suffered retribution, or heroes striving for betterment.
Let it be understood that people and governments do what we let the door get away with.
No new discovery or revelation but the National Assembly Resolution No. 21 of May 16, 2003 constituted and appointed a Disciplined Forces Commission, which was chaired by Justice Ian Chang, Chairman, David Granger, Anil Nandlall and Charles Ramson as members. The four forces into which the Commission was required to inquire were the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Prison Service and the Guyana Fire Service, the heads of which were the Commissioner, Chief of Staff, Director and Chief Fire Officer, respectively.
The very individual who was a member of the said Commission, now leads the nation on the path to change. Figure! Look at how quickly a Commission has been convened by the President, with the ultimate goal of ascertaining what the causal factors were behind the tragic fire. The Minister of State Joseph Harmon reiterated that this recently convened Commission would not be hoodwinked. Perhaps the Commission would not be hoodwinked, but they would be hoodwinking the public, as there has been before this 2016 Commission, three others, 2001, 2002, ten year 2001-2011( Strategic Development Plan) prepared by the said Guyana Prison Service, Report by the Carter Law Centre.
Were the public ever made privy to the results of the Commission of which Granger was a member? The nation voted for a change, and they are certainly getting one, albeit in the wrong direction and one that seems so out of range. Please tell me, our people are not expecting the government to do the right thing. You see where that expectation has gotten us, but for reasons that puzzle me, we still keep believing Massah will take care of us. Enough with the slave mindsets that deny reality.
Every Commission, every report, included all three penal institutions in Guyana, with recommendations given for amelioration at all three. As with the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Prison Service has been the subject of several foreign and local reports which made recommendations for change. The President along with an entourage visited the Mazaruni Prison, the visit being dubbed as being part of the Government’s search for a long term solution to the problems of the prison service. How long a term does he have in mind?
If the President and the Commission are to succeed in any strategy/ plan that would affect nationwide security and avert a recurrence of the prison situation, then it is imperative that a consensus be built within the nation for the solution. It is imperative that the public be kept aware and informed, in addition there must be a plan or a solution for the public to focus and take a position on, ultimately assisting the Commission to determine what position/ stance they will eventually take.
Present day situation in the prisons serve as a strong reflector of the current Administration’s dismal handling and disregard for initiating dramatic policies of change in regards to previous prison service recommendations, and less than robust in addressing issues that threaten penal survival. It is high time that Guyanese look over the range and hastily summon the change. Skip the slave mentality, forget blind loyalty, hold this Commission, convened in this era of change accountable for not only talking about solutions, but effecting them immediately. Enough is Enough!. The past may be the past but it should not be allowed to last. The thought of another fire would certainly put the Government in odious mire.
Yvonne Sam

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Another analytical look at the prison riots

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