Addressing reporters on Friday during a press briefing, Rohee said that the finishing touches would be completed in a few weeks’ time and that next week the media would be invited to tour the facility. He expressed himself convinced that the media would be as impressed as he was with lock-ups now.
The insanitary state of the lock-ups came into the spotlight in 2009, and rehabilitation began late in the year at a cost of $10M. In the interim, prisoners were housed at the Diamond Police Station lock-ups.
Many persons who had spent time in the Brickdam lock-ups described it as an experience they would not wish on anyone.
In January 2002, Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Lord Daniel Brennan QC had recommended that the facility be shut down after a visit to Guyana aimed at improving the local judicial system. During his visit Lord Brennan met with members of the judiciary, the police force and the prison service. He also toured the Camp Street Prison calling it a “reasonable” facility, but said that the Brickdam lock-ups should be “locked up and closed.”
