U.N. committee raps Govt. over abuse of prisoners

Apr 02, 2024 News

The U.N. Human Rights Committee expressed concern about overcrowding in Guyana Prisons

– cites overcrowding, harsh life-threatening conditions

Kaieteur News – While recognising the efforts of the State in addressing overcrowding in prisons, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee rapped Guyana on what they termed harsh and life-threatening conditions in the country’s prisons.

According to the committee those conditions include, severe overcrowding, and physical abuse, lack of access to adequate medical care, potable water, sanitary conditions, and limited sunlight. The human rights committee noted that it is also concerned by reports of the lack of transparency, accountability, and independence of the prison visiting committees, which are mandated to regularly inspect prisons and investigate prisoners’ complaints.

The committee recommended that the State should ensure that the conditions of detention are in compliance with relevant international human rights standards. “In particular, the State party should: harmonize laws and policies on the detention of prisoners with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,” the committee recommended.

In its report, the UN committee also suggested that the State “takes immediate measures to significantly reduce overcrowding in prisons, including through the wider application of non-custodial measures as an alternative to imprisonment, as outlined in the United Nations Standard minimum rules for non-custodial measures; improve the conditions of detention, and ensure adequate access to healthcare, clean water, and natural light for persons held in all places of deprivation of liberty; facilitate independent, effective, and regular monitoring of all places of detention without prior notice and on an unsupervised basis, including by establishing an independent mechanism to monitor the prison conditions and providing mandatory training for relevant law enforcement officers as well as judges, prosecutors, and other legal professionals regarding prevention of deaths in custody.”

The report is released just days after a delegation from Guyana led by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira faced a series of questions from the UN Human Rights committee.

In response to the observations of the Human Rights committee, the Government of Guyana issued a report rejecting many of the contentions.

In its report, however, the Government did not address the question of overcrowding in the prisons. The Government inter alia stated that it “…strongly objects to the use of the term ‘widespread’ “about reports of widespread torture or ill-treatment of persons deprived of liberty… In the few instances which the state shared where such reports have been received, the cases were taken to the courts and the perpetrators were charged in accordance with the relevant laws.”

Just days before this, local news outlets reported a chicken pox outbreak within the Lusignan prisons. The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) had disclosed that the Chicken Pox outbreak at the Lusignan Prison that during the outbreak, 25 infections were reported and only seven have recovered.

The GPS reported “There is also a robust education, and hygiene campaign being conducted by the Prison Administration in collaboration with the Ministry of Health on how to prevent contracting the virus and identifying the symptoms.”

“To combat the spread of the virus, the Prison Administration also continues with its comprehensive preventative measures. These include the administration of medication such as Acyclovir and calamine lotion, increased sanitation frequency, sunning out of mattresses and clothing, sterilisation of eating utensils and personal items, vaccination protocols, and daily medical assessments.”

Committee, conditions, harsh life-threatening, overcrowding, prisoners

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