Dear Editor,
When I saw a senior medical staff member at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on television implying that the prisoners who suffered burns should not have been taken immediately to the hospital without first being examined by medical personnel at the Georgetown Prison infirmary, I remembered my First Aid instructions as a young police recruit. They taught me then that the injured must be removed from the cause of the injury if it was not possible to remove the cause from the injured. Editor, I think it would have been very obvious to those on the ground that the disaster which was unfolding was not going to be quelled anytime soon, and therefore the most practical and humane thing was to remove the injured prisoners to a more equipped and staffed institution.
Another thing: Did it really have to take the intervention of two senior government officials to determine that prisoners are humans too? Although we agree that if you do the crime you have to do the time, convicts and remand prisoners like almost everyone else need human contact. In this modern age when physical contact may be impractical then technology is the next best option. It did not have to take the presence of two ministers to make a policy decision to increase the frequency of phone calls between prisoners and their relatives on the outside.
Editor, I will not speculate as to the reason why the Deputy Director proceeded on his vacation leave at this time except to say that the prison system requires strong and decisive leadership. In the past we have seen that senior police officers were transferred to head sister joint services agencies. Both Norman McLean who was transferred to the Guyana Defence Force, and Cecil Kilkenny who went to the Prison Service performed creditably. It is not too late for the executive to consider a similar initiative at this crucial time. The Guyana Police Force has several Assistant Commissioners from among whom a suitable officer could be selected to lead in the restoration and indeed reformation of the Guyana Prison Service.
Yours faithfully,
Patrick E Mentore
