Latest update April 17th, 2025 9:50 AM
Transnational crimes giving Guyana headache—Min. Benn
-says prison is a focal point for redeveloping, reforming people
Kaieteur News- Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn told the Guyana Prison Service Senior Officer’s Conference on Thursday that Guyana is challenged by issues beyond its society and transnational crime plays a big part of this.
Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn
He explained that the country does not produce cocaine, yet it tends to find its way here and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) recently made a big bust of approximately four tons of the illegal substance. “We don’t make guns. We can’t even make a bicycle spoke. We might be able to make something when we get where it’s going, when the energy price is cut in half, and we will industrialise. We don’t make those things, but they’re flooding (the country),” he said.
The minister lamented that all of these things facilitate a larger number of and more organised crimes which put a strain on the security sector. Additionally, the challenge to the country’s sovereignty from the west does not make things easier.
Minister Benn underscored that in spite of the challenges being faced, citizens should focus on being better Guyanese, better skilled and educated. For inmates, he said the GPS serves as a “focal point for reforming and redeveloping people.” He shared that at the juvenile centre, there are about 15-16 young men and it was reported to him that one of them passed CXC Mathematics.
“I say we are at a pivotal, transformative point in our country’s history and development. We cannot drop this ball. This is our ball. This is our ball, and we have to carry it forward. The most important place otherwise in measuring how we perform in these issues of national development, because without security, without security, we cannot develop,” he said. He urged the prisoners as well as the prison officers to make the best of the opportunities being made available to them as they cannot remain stagnant.
Also addressing the officers, Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot spoke about the reforms taking place among inmates. Elliot acknowledged the success of the rehabilitation programmes, noting, “There’s a significant reduction in the prisoner-to-prisoner incidents, which largely was due to prisoners attending the various trade programmes. A total of 44 incidents were recorded for the year 2024 at five locations with a population of 2000,” he said.
Elliot had made mention of the reduction in inmate conflicts in December 2024 due to extensive training programmes. He highlighted that inmate conflicts had also decreased significantly over the past years from 33% in 2015 to 18% by 2023. “For prisoners for the year 2024, a total of 820 prisoners were exposed to various training opportunities,” Elliot said.
Elliot also shared details about the prison’s employment and integration opportunities, which are designed to help inmates earn money, support their families, and save for their release. “With the Fresh Start initiative in 2024, we were able to distribute 18 tool kits to suitable candidates on the release from prison. This allowed them to enter the work market and to earn them a sustainable income. These tool kits, including cosmetology, tailoring, carpentry, landscaping. Prisoners were afforded all the essential opportunities and services in keeping with the prison app,” Elliot said.
In addition to vocational training, Elliot discussed other activities available to prisoners while serving their sentences including, “general health care, provision of adequate and nutritional meals, adequate sanitation, services and sunlight activities, library and book reading materials, visits, phone calls, religious activities, which ensure that their dignity remains with them while in prison.”
(Transnational crimes giving Guyana headache—Min. Benn)
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