Business community relays safety concerns to security officials

Aug 29, 2017 News

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has been briefed on Government’s handling of the crime situation and the recent prison incidents.
Last Tuesday, a delegation of business leaders met with Minister of Public Security,

Minister Khemraj Ramjattan (fifth from right) and other security officials met with the PSC delegation.

Khemraj Ramjattan; Police Commissioner (ag), David Ramnarine and Director of Prisons (ag), Gladwin Samuels to receive an update.
According to the PSC, in a release on the meeting, following the fire and prison breakout at the Georgetown Prisons and subsequent further escapes from the Lusignan prison and disturbances within that prison, it had expressed its concern to President David Granger that these events have brought into question public confidence in the Government’s ability to ensure the security of the country and the safety of the citizens.
PSC disclosed that on the advice of the President, it met with the three security officials.
The Commission said it reiterated its concern over the erosion of public security and safety and pointed out that the issue of public confidence in the government is exacerbated by the fact that, to date, no one, at any level has been held accountable and no one charged for these events.
“The Commission emphasized the serious damage that these events have caused to investor confidence here, at home and abroad, and to tourism, and underlined the fact that scheduled business visits from abroad and planned events have either been postponed or relocated.”
PSC said that it further expressed its concern over the “inability of the police” to effectively curb the incidence of violent crime reaching into business places and homes across the country. Citizens, the Commission stressed, are now living in a constant state of fear.
According to Ramjattan, there is need for the urgent restoration of public confidence in the security and safety of the prison system.
PSC said that the minister was “open and frank” in addressing the challenges faced by the country from the threat of violent crime.
“The Minister assured the Commission that every effort was being made to recapture the escapees who are still at large and to return the situation to normalcy.”
According to the acting Top Cop, the Police are conducting an active investigation into Georgetown Prison Fire which is nearing completion.
“The Minister provided the Commission with a comprehensive and confidential brief on the current and accelerated steps being taken to put in place a fully functioning prison system, but pointed out that gross overcrowding, neglected over a long number of years, will demand substantial sums of money not readily available to construct a new and expanded system sufficient to accommodate the present prison population.”
According to the business body, the Minister also shared Government’s plans for the urgent construction of a modern facility in the Mazaruni.
“The Minister pointed out that a major contributing factor to the overcrowding of the prisons is the extraordinary number of remand prisoners filling the prisons resulting from the unnecessarily high level of bail being assigned for relatively minor offences, completely out of the financial reach of the persons accused of these offences.”
Ramjattan noted that he was actively engaged in addressing the Judiciary with regards to a solution to this problem.
Already, the Minister confirmed that the Prison Sentence Management Board has been appointed.
Meanwhile, Samuels in a statistical presentation to the Commission, charted the current and historical status of prisoners both in the system and at large, “largely providing answers to many of the questions asked in the public about the numbers and locations of the prison population,” PSC said.
“The Commission strongly recommended to the Minister that he make the presentation public, since it would go a long way towards reassuring the public that the authorities were in control of the situation. On the question of rehabilitation of convicted prisoners, the Minister and his team outlined the significant efforts and arrangements in place, in spite of extremely limited resources and space, to ensure that released prisoners were able to be gainfully employed on their reintegration into society.”
Ramjattan pointed out that the major issue facing released prisoners is the fact that, generally, in Guyana, the stigma attached made it extremely difficult to find employment for them.
Last month, a large section of the Camp Street prison was destroyed, allegedly by prisoners, who then shot a prison guard dead. Eight prisoners, among them convicted murderers, escaped.
Days later, after the prisoners were shifted to the Lusignan prisons, among other facilities, another 13 escaped.
Security forces managed to capture all but four, and there is a $10M reward now out for the remaining fugitives.