The Story within the Story…Jail fire: We are paying the price for misplacing our priorities

Jul 16, 2017 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

The past two years under the current administration have provided a tough baptism for its

leaders. It was characterized by highs and lows. Floods, a tough going for the economy, new taxes, an unrelenting Opposition…I don’t envy them at all.
The coalition government entered office riding on a wave of change, and immediately faced the petulance of Venezuela after ExxonMobil announced a major oil find in Guyana’s waters.
There are theories that Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, facing growing unrest over the country’s economy, was using an old border controversy with Guyana to stir up tensions, whip up sentiments and divert the attention from his woes. He immediately ended a lucrative oil-for-rice deal with Guyana.
I do believe that Maduro made a grave mistake affecting relations, both trade and diplomatic relations in the UNASUR, by his actions. Guyana had a lot to offer. We have thousands of Guyanese living there. The border allows brisk trade.
Even now, with tensions simmering, rice from Guyana is still making its way there. We are getting fuel, maybe illegally, but things are happening at the border.
I feel sorry for Venezuela. At a time when our people were in need, its people welcomed us. An egotistical, chest-thumping leader who flexed his muscle while his people are hungry, has scuttled a good thing.
Based on the current forecast of oil, it will be years before Venezuela rises above the ashes.
I could not help but think of the opportunities lost by Maduro to make Venezuela a real powerhouse in the region. The PetroCaribe arrangement is but one of the good ideas that helped quite a few countries, including Guyana. UNASUR, a regional bloc, had potential.

A BOILING CAULDRON
This Sunday past I was called out by the editors to help cover the events on Camp Street.
To say that I was surprised would be a lie.
Camp Street jail was a boiling cauldron that had several grenades thrown under it.
It was bound to happen.
One could argue that past governments had other priorities like roads and infrastructure and things like that.
I have dear friends on both sides of the political divide. Dear friends with whom I have had many long, sometimes angry arguments about what went wrong in our country.
I believe that our lapses in modernizing the justice system and improving our education system were our biggest loss in opportunities.
Despite the embargo on Cuba, that Spanish-speaking country has managed to create a cadre of medical schools that is among the best in the world. Education.
Our justice system leaves a whole lot to be desire.
At the courts, I feel sick every time I visit. The court at Providence is the nearest one to my home. The building is elevated. Underneath is a septic tank that seems broken and is oozing water. It has been that way years now. Nobody cares.
A while back I covered the magistrates’ courts in Georgetown. There were touts who were allegedly attached to magistrates. People said that these touts collected from relatives and passed to the magistrates. Everybody apparently knew it. It was even reported. Little was done.
Today, there are stories of even lawyers involved in underhand businesses at the court, paying off to have witnesses stop coming, among other things.
I am not sure what happens now. Everybody knows, including the police at court, why a particular man is hanging around the court every day.
I see the despair in the eyes of poor people whose family walked the wrong road. They borrow money from people they know they cannot repay, to bail their loved ones. Where do you think the money comes from to repay the money lenders?
A former magistrate called me last week. That individual was mad at the current ones sitting on the bench. Many of them have been benefitting from training about sentencing measures and other things to help the system. Yet, we see little change.
We remand people for a few grammes of marijuana because the law says so. We drag our foot on current legislation that has been tabled.
The big crimes…there is a perception, well-founded I must admit, that even the High Court seems to have adopted a policy of granting bail to well-to-do business persons who normally would have been remanded.
Yet a slapping incident charge sees poor persons remanded for months because they can’t raise the bail.
We take vagrants off the streets, charge them with theft, and throw them in jail. Many of these vagrants are in need of psychiatric help and maybe some hot food.
So, yes, the Camp Street jail, like the rest of our facilities, was allowed to become a monster in the heart of the city. Several city streets were blocked off for years now because of security concerns, affecting residents living in the vicinity.
At the prisons, we know of inmates having access to liquor and cigarettes. That pales in comparison to other things that made their way inside.
Many inmates have smartphones, posting on social media regularly. I am not sure how they charge the phones.
I have heard stories of some inmates looking after their families by running rackets inside.
So how does the stuff enter the walls? Maybe some are thrown over the walls.
However, the reports have long been that prison officers are fully involved.
On Thursday, officials could not say to what extent, if any, that collusion played a role in Sunday’s fire and jail break that allowed a death row prisoner to now be on the loose.
What is known is that the escapees came out with two handguns. The prison says it is missing one from its Operations Room which burnt down. So where did the other one come from? Over the wall?
We have many questions. Were prison officers stealing supplies that were bought for prisoners? How many guards have been let go or charged over the last five years for smuggling contraband items to inmates?
There will likely be another inquiry into this fire. There was one when 17 inmates were killed in a deadly blaze last year, at the same Camp Street facility.
We have to spend money now that could be used in another area, because we lacked the will as a government and a people to take timely and firm decisions to fix our problems.
I get mad, as it is my money being spent.
And lest there be naysayers, let the examples of Singapore, Malaysia and Norway be the motivation for us.

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