Rehabilitation of N/A Prison to commence in 2019

Dec 31, 2018 News

Extensive work on the New Amsterdam Prison is expected to commence come 2019.
This is according to the Ministry of Public Security. Guyana currently faces issues of overcrowding in many of its prisons and in an effort to combat this, several prisons across the country have been placed in the budgetary allocations for renovation or reconstruction works. The male prison in New Amsterdam is just one of the many holding facilities that have been allocated funds for reconstruction in the coming year. This effort has been pegged as one, which will improve the level of national security across Guyana. Thirty five million dollars has been allocated in the 2019 Budget to the security sector- a fourteen percent increase from the previous year’s allocations.
Overcrowded prisons in and outside of Guyana are a cause for widespread worry and concern. In fact, it is one of the main contributing factors in the development of mental health illnesses in prisoners. Congested holding facilities often lead to insanitary conditions and are breeding grounds for violent conditions. In addition to this, prison workers are placed at a greater risk for potential violence by prisoners in conditions such as these. Therefore, a prison reconstruction would be of tremendous impact to not only the prisoners and prison workers but to the country in itself. According to Minster of Finance, Winston Jordan, the funds allocated to the Ministry will be used to ensure that the rights of citizens are protected.
Preventing prison overcrowding is a key initiative in combating the problems and concerns for prisoner and staff health resulting from the impact of living and working in overcrowded prisons. In order to mitigate this issue, measures focused on dealing with drug addiction, poverty and lack of education would need to be incorporated.
Prison administrators, when faced with rising populations, find it harder to adhere to or meet international standards and guidelines to ensure humane conditions for prisoners. It also becomes harder to manage prisons effectively as overcrowding puts pressure on resources, and reduces the space available to provide educational and rehabilitative programmes. Working in overcrowded prisons can have negative effects on staff morale, create control and security concerns and can lead to increasing conflict and violence in the prison environment.

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