The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) has been given the approval to hire an additional 38 persons as assistant prison officers with effect from August, 2012, the Home Ministry said yesterday.
The decision is in keeping with the GPS Strategic Plan 2010-2015 to enhance the security of prison estates and prisoners, the ministry said in a statement yesterday. It added that those hired will be trained and posted to appropriate locations in the GPS to strengthen the existing staff at these locations.
The shortage of staff in the prison service coupled with overpopulation of prison facilities have been among the factors cited for break-outs over the years. In its latest human rights report on Guyana, the US State Department had noted that capacity and resource constraints were a problem and that as of October 31 last year, there were 1,962 prisoners in five facilities that had a combined design capacity of 1,580. A total of 997 prisoners were in Georgetown’s Camp Street Prison, which was designed to hold 775 inmates, it said.
