The prison administration has established monitoring teams to audit the security and management of prison locations as part of wide-ranging measures aimed at preventing jailbreaks.
In a written response on Tuesday to several prison-related questions from Alliance For Change Leader Raphael Trotman in the National Assembly, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee added that although the recent Mazaruni jailbreak was spontaneous it was planned to take place at the most opportune time.
On January 12 nine prisoners escaped from the Mazaruni jail during a routine feeding exercise. Members of the joint services subsequently recaptured all nine of them.
Asked to state the circumstances surrounding the jailbreak, Rohee said that according to investigations, two prison officers, one a supervisor were detailed to overlook the feeding of 57 inmates in the security blocks with their evening meals around five past six on the day the escape occurred. The minister said that during the exercise, the prisoners were out of their respective cells receiving their ration. He said it was during this period that three of them overpowered the supervisor who was in the building with them, brandishing sharp instruments – one believed to be an improvised cutlass. The inmates then ran to the entrance as other prisoners followed them, their menacing demeanour forcing the officer outside to withdraw. Rohee said the prisoners eventually ran into the prison yard behind the security block and quickly scaled the western fence, approximately 30 metres away. He said the unarmed officer in the Observation Post raised an alarm but he himself withdrew from his post as the charging and menacing prisoners threatened to kill him. Rohee said the inmates then made their way to the nearby forest.
Following this, the minister said, the facility was immediately locked down and a head count revealed that nine prisoners had escaped. He said that by 6.30 pm, a comprehensive joint services contingency plan was operationalised to recapture the escapees. They were all recaptured by January 21.
The Home Affairs Minister said an analysis of the contributing factors of the escape revealed that the officers supervising the inmates failed to observe procedures and this apparent neglect contributed significantly to the escape of the prisoners.
Rohee said too that it was recognized that even though the escape was spontaneous it was planned to take place at the most opportune time.
A board of inquiry was set up to investigate the jailbreak and has since completed its work.
Trotman asked the minister what measures have been taken to prevent further jailbreaks, and Rohee responded that several steps have been taken. These include increasing the prisons’ surveillance and monitoring capabilities at prison locations in order to prevent and reduce the element of surprise by prisoners and supporting staff in maintaining the security integrity of those locations. He said too that they have created more opportunities for staff to develop core competences and skills from strategic courses done in house at external institutions, joint services’ training and overseas exposure.
Rohee said as part of measures to prevent more prison breaks, they have reviewed the staff establishment and increased staff strength to adequately supervise inmates. Further, existing prison facilities’ structures have been fortified to safely house inmates, while the administration has been developing and maintaining joint operational response drills to emergencies occurring within the prison facilities in Guyana.
The minister added that the prison administration has also established monitoring teams to audit and review the security and management of prison locations in terms of structural capabilities, compliance with security procedures and generally the efficiency of prison locations. Additionally, Rohee said, the administration is currently providing a comprehensive retraining regime that will provide prisoners with a sense of hope and incentives to conduct themselves positively in the prison environment.
“These measures will prevent, deter and reduce opportunities for prisoners to breach the security of prison locations and at the same time ensure a positive penal environment is maintained which is supportive to prisoners behaving themselves in a discipline manner,” Rohee said in his response.
The Home Affairs Minister was also asked to comment on the status of several commissions of inquiry into prison breaks over the years. He said that in the last ten years there were four such enquiries. In 1996, a commission was set up to investigate the escape of 28 prisoners from the Lusignan jail. In August 1999, another commission was established to investigate the escape of four prisoners from the Georgetown jail. Another enquiry was set up to investigate the escape of five prisoners from the Camp Street Jail on February 23, 2002. Also an enquiry was held into the escape of five prisoners from the Mazaruni jail in 2005. Rohee mentioned that in the November 21, 1996 Lusignan jailbreak enquiry 28 recommendations were made and so far 18 have been implemented.
For the 1999 enquiry 24 recommendations were made and so far 23 have been implemented. The Mash Day jailbreak inquiry, which was chaired by former chancellor of the judiciary, Cecil Kennard, made 41 recommendations. Rohee said that so far 35 were implemented. And for the 2005 Mazaruni jailbreak where five inmates escaped, 25 recommendations were made after the commission carried out its investigation and so far Rohee said 21 were implemented.