Govt. budgets $5B to train inmates, complete prison upgrades

Feb 14, 2021 News

Overhead shot of the Lusignan Holding Bay.

Kaieteur News – Government has decided that some $5B must be pumped into the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) to complete prison upgrades across the country and train inmates.
This development, was on Friday, announced by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, during his budget presentation.
Out of the allocated sum, Dr. Singh said that $50M will be used to train prison inmates in areas of anger management, literacy, agriculture and culinary arts.
Additionally, Singh said, 30 incarcerated youths will benefit from digital skills training to support their rehabilitation and social transformation, when they exit the prison system.
Apart from the other minor initiatives which Dr. Singh mentioned, it is presumed that the bulk of the $5B will go towards completing the rehabilitation, construction and upgrades of prisons across Guyana.
According to Dr. Singh, his government is seeking to commence the construction of three new blocks at the Lusignan Holding Bay located on the East Coast Demerara (ECD). Those blocks he detailed are to accommodate some 600 inmates.
He also promised that the ongoing works to expand the Mazaruni Prison will be completed by the end of this year. Upon completion, the facility is said to accommodate some 220 high-profile prisoners.
Works, he said, are also in progress on cells at the New Amsterdam Prison.
In recent years, after the Camp Street Prison was destroyed by fire, Kaieteur News had reported that billions of dollars were being pumped into the GPS to reconstruct, rehabilitate and upgrade prisons, to deal with overcrowding.
However, to date, the problem of overcrowding still exists and the promised refurbished facilities are still to be completed.
In 2019, under the coalition led-government, it was reported that a total of $1.5B was set aside to develop prison infrastructure, ease overcrowding and remove the need to use temporary holding areas such as the Lusignan Prison.
In 2020, another $2B was set aside for the same initiative, prison reform, by the current administration.

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