(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Edward Belfort, deputy director of the Delinquents Care department has submitted a US$ 1.2 million project proposal with the government to fight corruption in prisons. The money will be used for digital networks, cameras and scanners in local prisons, the only way to combat crime within the correctional institutions. It appears that inmates who manage to con people from inside the prison walls go unpunished. It is next to impossible to finger the culprits. Some inmates have mobile phones at their disposal which they use to con people on the outside. Belfort blames a small group of prison guards who facilitate inmates. As soon as the police has received a complaint they request Delinquent Care to investigate, but it is often difficult to find the culprit. Inmates know who to point to, but they keep their mouth shut for fear of reprisals. ‘It’s to no avail, because there is a network.’ Corrupt prison guards simply supply their inmate ‘bosses’ with a new phone if the previous one is confiscated. Mavis Accord recently became a victim of the prison con artists. She notified the police, but was told that the police have to deal with much more pressing cases. The con artist told his victim that he was one doctor Vrede, employed by the University Hospital. He managed to get SRD 60 in calling credit from her. Accord is stunned that she has been conned in such a way, and she cannot understand why no one can do anything about it. ‘Swindling is swindling, whether it’s done from prison or not; whether it involves a small sum or not. The culprits have to be tried,’ says lawyer Humphrey Schurman. The lawyer understands that the large number of cases forces the police to prioritize some. If victims would press on, they could write a letter to the Public Prosecutors Office and demand an investigation. Swindling is but one of the crimes happening in the correctional institutions. Drugs seem to find their way in regularly. The justice official emphasizes that not all prison guards are corrupt, but, nevertheless, investigation is not easy.
