Shuffling inmates may assist in prison control

Apr 10, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
As a citizen of this beloved country Guyana, I pen my deep concerns regarding the Guyana Prison Service. I am of the opinion that the Prison Service may have over looked the fact that convicted prisoners should have a definite housing programme that would depend on the length of their sentences. I want to state at this time that I do applaud the hard work being conducted by the Prison Administration and officers, as they try their utmost to house the inmates that are being sent into their care by the Judicial Body.
I do think that a serious approach needs to be implemented in relation to the housing of convicted prisoners, for example: having three (3) convicted prisoners living in the same environment, prisoner one (1) serving eighteen (18) months, prisoner two (2) serving five (5) years and prisoner three (3) serving sixty (60) years, is a sure recipe for disaster.
The Prison Environment should be geared to facilitate the inmates with sentences over ten (10) years. Systems need to be put in place to accommodate those who are not going to leave the institution in the next decade; this will surely eliminate frustration among those inmates. These frustrations can stem from the smallest of things. Imagine the inmate who is doing an eighteen (18) months sentence getting into conflict with an inmate who is sentenced to eighty-one (81) years. The end result will be a disaster, mainly because the inmate with the eighty-one (81) years would become a decided soul knowing that he will not be leaving the institution anytime soon and is being violated by an inmate who could be described as a recidivist (one who is incarcerated almost every year or more than once per year).
The Mazaruni Prison should be redesigned to accommodate the population of prisoners with ten (10) years and over. These prisoners should be under the supervision of a team of special force officers who are trained in psychology and should also be physically fit, and mentally stable. The prisoners who have been removed from the Condemned Division and had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment should also join the population at Mazaruni.
1. Prisoners with less than ten (10) years but more than four (4) years should be accommodated between the Timehri and Lusignan Prisons.
2. The other two (2) locations namely the Georgetown and the Berbice Prisons; being Central and Reception Prisons, are already burdened with the load of those committed and those on remand, should be made to accommodate the sentences four (4) years and under.
My suggestions are just what I say they are (suggestions), they are not orders and are not meant to be followed, but I do pray that the Administration at least take them into consideration.
Concerned Citizen

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