In spite of some concerns raised by GAP/ROAR MP Everall Franklin, the National Assembly on Thursday passed the Prison (Amendment) Bill 2009 in an attempt to modernize the prison service.
The piece of legislation seeks to categorize roof protests by prisoners as a major offence, order stiffer penalties for persons who carry or throw prohibited items into the prisons, criminalize communication without lawful excuse with a prisoner, and to enhance penalties for assaults on a prison officer. It will also allow prison officers to use weapons against prisoners engaged in an individual or combined effort to escape from prison. The bill also states that the prison authorities will be allowed to call on members of the disciplined forces to assist them whenever the need arises.
A young prisoner will now be classified as under 18 years old as opposed to under 21 years, in the old law.
The piece of legislation was debated in the absence of the PNCR-1G, who continued their selective participation in parliamentary sittings. Apart from Franklin, AFC MPs David Patterson and Latchmin Punalall were the only other opposition members in the House.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee piloted the bill through the House and stated that it was the first step in efforts being made to modernize the Guyana Prison Service. He pointed out that there were several other measures that the administration is currently considering to ensure that the modernization process continues.
Rohee spoke at length about several of the new proposals and said that they were intended to improve safety within the prisons as well as to deter certain undesirable activities. The minister said that many persons seek to smuggle or even throw illegal objects to persons in prison and that the bill proposes that the persons who are caught doing this be fined $75,000. The current fine for this offence is $400.
Additionally, to deter unauthorized communication with prisoners while they are outside the prisons, persons caught communicating with inmates while they are in public can be fined $10,000 or face three months imprisonment.
The minister also pointed out that to deter attacks against prison officers, the bill also increases the fine for persons assaulting prison officers to $75,000 and 18 months imprisonment.
Franklin, the sole opposition member to speak on the bill, said while he supported any improvement or tightening of the prevailing prison system; especially to safeguard the safety of the inmates and prison officers, there were particular aspects of the proposed bill that were problematic.
Franklin expressed his concern at the legislation allowing the use of arms anywhere in the prison, and said “we cannot just legislate through the barrel of a gun, to control people within the prison.” He said the reason why the old law had restricted the use of arms to the outer wall was to ensure that arms were only used as a last resort to control a problematic situation. He pointed out that there have been cases of reported abuse of prisoners at the hands of prison officers when there was not even an escape attempt by these prisoners. He expressed concern that allowing the use of firearms within the prisons would contribute to “brutal force” being used anywhere within the prisons thereby contributing to the abuse of prisoners by the prison officers.
However, at this point PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira interjected that Franklin was creating a false impression about the use of firearms. She said the bill clearly stipulated in what circumstances firearms could be used by the prison officers. This point was later supported by Rohee.
Franklin also said that the state needed to ensure that there is a certain ratio between officers and inmates to ensure proper safety in the prisons. According to him, when there is a huge disparity between the number of inmates and prison officers, there was always a great safety risk. He said the state needed to improve working conditions in the prisons to attract enough qualified persons. He also noted that the prisons contained a large number of remand prisoners, who he emphasized, were innocent until proven guilty and who needed to be treated as if they were innocent.
Franklin also suggested that one way to prevent roof top protests by prisoners is to redesign the roof, thereby preventing access to it.
Meanwhile, he indicated his support for the aspects of the bill which criminalize contact with inmates who are outside the prison with work orders and with the proposal to increase fines for persons who assault prison officers.
Teixeira, who served as the previous home affairs minister, supporting the bill, said the proposals outlined were necessary to deter certain activities that took place at the prison. She spoke about the dangers caused by prison breaks and recounted the Mash Day Prison Break of 2002 which she said resulted in mass mayhem in the country and had led to deaths of and injuries and losses to several Guyanese.
Teixeira also said that strong action needed to be taken against persons who smuggled items into the prisons since this was very dangerous. She recounted a case where a lawyer had smuggled a cellular phone to his client in the prison and this client was able to make connections with a station in the United States.
In wrapping up, Rohee responded to some of the concerns raised by Franklin. While saying that the spirit in which Franklin’s observations were made was well intended, the minister objected to the view that the administration was “seeking to legislate through the barrel of a gun.”
Rohee suggested that Franklin withdraw this statement, the GAP/ROAR MP proceeded to do so. Rohee emphasized that it was not the intention of the authorities to have the prisons ruled through brute force and pointed out that the prisons were correctional and rehabilitative facilities. However, he said the “enforcement” aspect of the prisons needed to be taken into consideration too.
Rohee said the remand population had nothing to do with the prison service but with the criminal justice system. Speaking about the ratio of prisoners to prison officers in the prisons, Rohee said the government had attempted to attract additional staff for the prison service. According to him, advertisements were recently placed in the media. He said that while the administration was seeking to improve the conditions of service, the choice came down to the individual whether to accept the job or not.
Meanwhile, Rohee disclosed his willingness to think about redesigning the roof at the Camp Street prison but indicated that he could not promise that this would be done, since there were many limitations. He also took time out to respond to those persons who have been calling for the prison to be relocated outside the city, and said such a move had several complications.
