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$58M for more living quarters for officers at Mazaruni Prison
Further plans are being made to accommodate more staff at the Mazaruni Prison which is earmarked to receive an additional 400 inmates as part of a major expansion programme to ease overcrowding of prisons on the coast.
Authorities are seeking to build eight additional living quarters this year which is in addition to the 12 which were completed last year. The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has estimated some $58 million to build additional housing for prison officers.
Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan stated that the prison officers are uncomfortable at some prisons, including Mazaruni, located in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
The Mazaruni Prison is expected to accommodate mostly hardcore inmates.
“We will have good quality prison officers and upper ranking officers to live there and have their families go there,” Minister Ramjattan stated.
There are plans to rebuild a school and a Church at Mazaruni to cater for the influx of prison officers who will be tasked with overseeing the prison.
“We now have to incorporate a village scene where we have a church and a school for the children. We just cannot carry them (prison officers) up there and every weekend they have to find themselves in Georgetown. We have to make a community there,” Ramjattan said.
In December, Government awarded a $3.5 billion contract to build a new wing at the Mazaruni Prison to accommodate an additional 400 inmates.
The contract was awarded to Kee-Chanona Ltd of Trinidad and Tobago in joint venture with Guyanese firm, Nabi Construction Inc. The expansion of the Mazuruni Prison has been on the table for some time.
According to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, the joint venture contract will realise a four-storeyed building, self-contained cells, a recreational courtyard, dormitory style accommodation, classrooms and a library.
The project will be executed under the Public Security Ministry and will cover a floor area of 68,500 square feet.
Prison officials have been struggling to accommodate inmates over the years. The situation was compounded when over 1,000 inmates at Camp Street Prison in Central Georgetown were displaced when inmates razed the facility during a daring escape in July, last.
The Mazaruni prison
Authorities rushed to set up temporary accommodations to house the displaced inmates. Some 450 prisoners were initially housed in a pasture at the Lusignan Prison before they were transferred to a new holding area which was built to temporarily accommodate inmates from the Camp Street Prison.
Some inmates were returned to the Camp Street facility following repair work, while others were transferred to the prisons in New Amsterdam, Mazaruni and Timehri.
Ramjattan stated that fixing the prison system will not be done overnight since it requires time and money.
The current prison population at the Mazaruni Prison is just over 450 inmates. In October, it was disclosed that the estimated bid being tendered for the new wing of the Mazaruni Prison was $2.8 billion.
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