Local optician Don Gomes has been given the green light by the police to give the Brickdam Police lockups, notorious for their inhumane and insanitary conditions a facelift, hopefully in time for Christmas.
As a concerned citizen, Gomes hopes that this project will change the police culture of how prisoners are treated while in custody, and calls on all Guyanese to support his efforts.
Gomes had contacted this newspaper early last week about volunteering to clean the lockups, which have been a subject of criticism over the years, and indicated that he was trying to get the go ahead from the police.
Acting Police Commis-sioner Henry Greene told Stabroek News on Friday following the conclusion of the annual First Aid competition for the Smellie Cup that Gomes had contacted them on the issue and the force had agreed to his help.
The optician who is also known for his creative pieces at Mash time, yesterday asked for the voluntary support of the media, the fire service, the cadets from the Felix Austin College, and the Mayor and City Council.
He said that so far he has some detergent and brooms but still needed more things to get the project off the ground.
Outlining his plan, Gomes said that his aim was to get as many volunteers as possible to clean the interior of the lockups. If the toilets needed some work, he would try to get some assistance to deal with that.
Then the lockups would be painted to spruce up their image.
He recalled that he had indicated to the Home Affairs ministry his willingness to help out, but had been told he needed to contact the Commander of ‘A’ Division, Leroy Brumell. Gomes said that Brumell had not been available at the time but he had later spoken to a senior officer who invited him to come and inspect the lockups to see what needed to be done.
According to Gomes this would be done shortly as he planned to have the project completed by Christmas.
He said that the officer had indicated that they too were working on the lockups so it was not as if nothing was being done on their part.
Asked why he came up with this idea, Gomes said amidst laughter that he was a concerned citizen and in case he happened to end up there, he “wanted to be treated as a person under the laws of Guyana.”
He said that when prisoners were held in that facility their wellbeing needed to be catered for 100% and the police had a responsibility to treat those persons well.
Gomes added that he hoped to develop a better culture so that the police could get the necessary items and manpower needed to keep the lockups clean.
“We have created a human septic tank and putting people in it… I understand the frustration of the police that they now have to contend with this sort of complaint,” he told Stabroek News.
“We want the public support by doing this so that the police can know that they have a responsibility to the public as well as their own image. They have to show respect to get respect,” the optician added.
Cemetery clean-up
This would be Gomes’s second community oriented project for the year. During the Carifesta period he along with volunteers started cleaning the south-eastern section of the La Repentir Cemetery, near to Cemetery Road.
Gomes told Stabroek News yesterday that they had started scraping tombs, clearing the scrub and small trees, weeding and removing bees nests.
The deadline for the end of the project is May 25 next year, and there will be a fence, and cleaned graves with a Guyana flag on each.
“I have given myself one year to make that section an example of what the cemetery where our loved ones are buried must look like,” he said.
