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Prisoners to be released due to Covid-19 measures – Ramjattan
Guyana‘s prison population is set to decrease in the coming weeks with the release of fifty prisoners in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the inmate population. Minister of Public Security,
Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan
Khemraj Ramjattan told Kaieteur News that the decision is part of steps taken to ease the overpopulation at the Georgetown, Lusignan and Mazaruni prisons, in keeping with the social distancing guidelines recommended by the health officials in the combat of the deadly pandemic. In fact, Ramjattan said that he has already approved the release of 50 inmates.
“I plan to have some more released in the coming weeks. I’m singing off on the releases for parolees as we speak,” Ramjattan told this newspaper in a telephone interview yesterday.
He explained, “We have to ease the prisons. So, what we have been doing is checking with the prisons to make sure that most of these prisoners that we decide to release have already served about a third of their sentence and were of good conduct while incarcerated.”
According to Ramjattan, the former inmates were incarcerated for mostly, minor offences.
“They were mostly incarcerated on charges related to narcotics. There were a few for assault, larceny and robbery,” he said.
As it relates to the parolees, the minister said that the applications for parole had been under consideration for some time.
“Those prisoners have been serving longer sentences and will be released with conditions. They will have to be supervised by the parole board and report to the police stations regularly. So, it’s not a complete release for them.”
Ramjattan said that about fourteen parolees will be released in a matter of days, as based on recommendations from the parole board.
In a separate interview, Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels told Kaieteur News that staffers of the Georgetown Prisons implemented a shift system in a bid to ensure that the disease does not enter the prison.
“The prison has been in line since February,” Samuels said, “However, given the COVID-19 situation, the administration has taken further steps to ensure that the prisons remain safe from the disease. We have accommodation in the compounds, so that our staff is not required to leave the facility daily. We also have a rotation and shift systems which are to help minimize the movement in and out the prison.”
Since March, the prisons have been limiting visitors to the prisons, as part of the new dispensation of social distancing. Last month, to compensate for the change in prison visit rules, the Ministry of Communications contributed thirty iPad tablets to be used by the prison service in facilitating communication between prisoners and their families and legal presentation.
Sinks and sanitizers have also been installed for visitors, while the time they are allotted to see inmates have been reduced. The prisons are being regularly sanitized, and lauded the inmates for their cooperation: to support this initiative, Demerara Distilleries Limited (DDL) handed over a significant amount of sanitation supplies to the prison system.
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