Government is looking to implement recommendations made in the Prison Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report at the earliest opportunity but this will depend largely on when they are discussed at the level of Cabinet.
This is according to Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan who made it clear that the issues surrounding the prison system are of importance.
The CoI report, which was delivered to President David Granger last month, made dozens of recommendations touching every facet affecting the smooth functioning of the prison system. Chief among them are the creation of a High Level Committee to deal, in part, with overcrowding and the immediate increase of staff. These two issues were prominent during the inquiry which was set up to probe the disturbances and resulting deaths of 17 prisoners at the Camp Street Prison on March 3, 2016.
Speaking to Sunday Stabroek from New York last Friday, Ramjattan informed that the recommendations will be implemented as soon as they are discussed at Cabinet. He said some have been implemented already, including the return of Deputy Director Gladwin Samuels to his post.
Samuels was sent on leave after allegations were made that he did nothing to help the prisoners. According to Ramjattan, the senior prison officer had been vindicated of any wrongdoing.
He said some of the other recommendations made will be implemented as early as possible but pointed out that they would need resources and new personnel would have to be found.
Asked specifically about the recommendation that deals with the setting up of the High Level Committee the minister and second vice-president of the coalition government, maintained that Cabinet will have to make the final decision.
It was recommended that this committee, which will represent all of the agencies with responsibility to the prison system, be created with the purpose of crafting and overseeing implementation of a coordinated strategy for reducing and sustaining the prison population to levels compatible with the UN Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Offenders.
“As a Cabinet, we the ministers would have to go through the recommendations and make the final decision, we would have to see how best we can implement these because some of them require a lot of resources and additional personnel,” Ramjattan said.
He did not say how soon Cabinet would be doing this but made it clear that it is a matter of importance and one that the government plans to address.
The recommendations were grouped into thirteen categories.
With respect to the administrative side of the prisons, the CoI recommended that “Custodial staffing to be increased immediately to match the operational and management readiness of the Guyana Prison Service.” It was stated that the ratio of female to male custodial staff needed to be reviewed in the increase as the current staffing is a recipe for continuous disturbances and security threats to the community at large.
It was recommended that the Prison Service adopt a management philosophy that encompasses modern principles of justice, management, training, humane conditions, discipline and use of force. “The Restorative Justice Philosophy can be explored in this regard,” the report said.
According to the administrative recommendations, the training of ranks must be structured in keeping with promoting management efficiency and a career development path with the prison service. In this regard it was recommended that special courses in training must include correctional leadership, modern correctional philosophy, control and restraints, developmental psychology, intelligence gathering, ethics in Corrections and managing security threats groups.
It was stated that the Strategic Plan (2010-2020) is a vehicle/platform to develop the Guyana Prison Service and must be pursued intentionally and strategically. “The eight pillars of development stated in the plan are structured and detailed approaches to the development of the Guyana Prison Service,” the report said.
It was recommended that to increase the capability of custodial supervisory staff in the short term, retired senior non commission officers from the Guyana Defence Force must be recruited. They must be carefully selected and appropriately trained to perform their new duties in keeping with modern prison philosophy.
The operational recommendations are that the administration must make locks tamper-proof by installing them in such a manner that there is no space for insertion of any material to prevent locks from opening. Prison beds and other equipment in dormitories must be constructed in a manner to make them tamper-proof reducing opportunities to convert them into improvised weapons. There is need for installation of an effective jamming system for cell phones, if not in the entire compound then at least in the high security blocks. Equipment to protect officers from physical harm should also be installed. An effective surveillance system in the prison yard to monitor and record both prisoners and officers’ conduct should be established. An effective intelligence system must be created within the system to manage crime and prisoners’ subcultures of gangs, prisoners of high security interest, contraband trade and violence/intimidation within the prison with support from the police and army intelligence units. High profile prisoners and prisoners with very long sentences must be strategically separated from the general population. The Joint Services Contingency Plans for Fire, Riots and Hostage-taking needs to be reviewed having regard to the actual circumstances occurring from March 2 to 4, 2016.
The report also made recommendations as it relates to the welfare of prisoners and prison staff.
It is recommended that the emoluments of prison staff be increased commensurately with the daily risk they face in the execution of their duties in a highly stressful and dangerous environment and a Special Insurance Scheme established and supported by government to compensate officers in case of injuries or death while executing their daily duties.
It was recommended that threats of physical and psychological harm to officers and families must be dealt with swiftly and effectively within the legal framework. The Prison Officers Association must operate more effectively to advocate for better working conditions for officers and the recognition of the heroic acts of prison officers, prisoners and other Joint Services members was also recommended.
Regarding the welfare of prisoners, it was recommended that prisoners’ living conditions be improved to reflect states of humanity and dignity. The training programmes of prisoners and their training facilities must match the concepts of modern penal philosophy to reduce recidivism and criminality among incarcerated offenders and the Probation and Social Services Department must play its institutional role in the prisons more effectively. Improvement of the capability of the medical facility within the prison so the healthcare of prisoners can be expeditiously addressed with no need to be taken to the hospital for routine tests, was also recommended. Prison kitchens must cease using firewood as fuel and modern kitchens must be developed at all locations to prepare inmates food. It was also recommended that Prison Administration develop a system to honour outstanding officers and ranks for their long and meritorious service.
The physical conditions of the Camp Street Prison as well as the other penitentiaries were also highlighted during the inquiry.
It was recommended that the Capital A Block be renovated and renamed the Centre of Learning and Reconciliation for prisoners. It should have a good library with appropriate technology and other supporting material to aid inmates to develop themselves.
The CoI urged that construction of the new prison at Lusignan be completed and the Mazaruni Prison facilities be upgraded to improve the prison holding capacity of prisoners under humane conditions. Enhancement of the structure and equipment at the Cecil Kilkenny Prison Officers’ Training School at Lusignan to create a receptive learning environment for prison officers was also advocated. A review of the internal walls of high security blocks to avoid prisoners breaking through them was suggested as well as introduction of a more effective system of lighting in dormitories to avoid tampering and turning off of lights by prisoners in divisions. The possible removal of the Georgetown Prison was also recommended.
With regard to the judiciary, the report mentioned the recognition by magistrates of the constitutional right to the presumption of innocence of accused persons being enforced when considering bail applications.
It was also recommended that the mandatory minimum sentences be abolished, along with de-criminalization of the possession of minimum amounts of marijuana for personal use. The report urged the establishment and expansion of alternatives to incarceration for those charged with low-level drug offences; proportionality in sentencing; avoiding preventive detention (remand) in the case of low-level, non-violent offenders; re-orient law enforcement efforts to target high-level drug-trafficking networks, rather than those at the bottom rung of the drug-trafficking ladder, such as consumers, small-scale farmers, low-level dealers and mules. It was recommended too that comprehensive prison censuses should be undertaken periodically to upgrade and expand criminal justice data systems and ensure timely access to criminal justice information for policy makers and the public.
The CoI said that with respect to Standing Law Revision Commission it is recommended that the commission be resuscitated so as to constantly update legislation; sentencing guidelines should be formally approved, publicized, disseminated and enforced; judges and magistrates must be trained in application of sentencing guidelines and visits to prisons by judges and magistrates must be viewed as a constitutive and obligatory aspect of their duties.
Prisoners on remand should be released automatically under the authority of the Prison Director once the time served equals the sentence the offence would attract, the report said. It added that resolutions of legal issues required to abolish PIs should be an urgent priority of the judiciary and that a robust programme of community-based sentencing alternatives should be produced in cooperation with all relevant agencies. It recommended piloting of alternative and community based sentences for women and juvenile offenders and that incarceration must be a last resort for women offenders and exceptional for mothers and caregivers.
It was recommended that the Legal Practitioners Act should be amended to promote transparency and accountability in the workings of the Legal Practitioners Committee (LPC) and that the Chancellor must take steps to ensure the workings of the LPC afford “effective protection to clients rather than the protection of wayward attorneys.”
Other commendations listed under the Guyana Bar Association (GBA) Judiciary heading are that defence attorneys should be encouraged to raise the issue of remand as a constitutional violation until minimum acceptable standards of detention are established; the findings of the LPC should be published annually and that the GBA pay greater attention to the obligation set out in the LPC Code of Conduct to advocate for implementation of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRTP).
With regard to the parole board it was stated that an assessment of the statutes, procedures and operations of the Parole Board is required to render the board more purposeful.
It was recommended that the automatic appointment to the Parole Board of Chairs of Prison Visiting Committees (PVCs) be reviewed and guidance manuals be developed within the framework of the SMRTP and introduced through orientation workshops to all members of PVCs and the Parole Board.
There were also recommendations for improved rehabilitation programmes. The CoI called for a major publicity campaign to promote acceptance of rehabilitation as the purpose of prisons; rehabilitation programmes in the penal system be made compulsory, subject to measurement and evaluation, linked to external qualifying processes and provide the basis and momentum for enjoyment of a range of incentives and privileges and that access to technology such as cell phones and computers and other privileges should be incentive-based.
With regard to vulnerable populations, it was recommended that a women’s remand prison be established in Demerara within the Lusignan Prison Environment along with a half-way house for non-violent women offenders. It was recommended that this half-way house should provide rehabilitation in the form of a process of re-establishing self-confidence and problem-solving skills with regular access to their children. It was recommended too that judges and magistrates must respect incarceration of women as a “last resort measure”.
For juveniles, it was recommended that the incarceration must be strictly according to the principle of last resort; police, magistrates and judges must charge men with grooming rather than charging girls with wandering and the Holding Centre in Sophia should be replaced by arrangements which are conducive to restoring good conduct, health and safety of children in accordance with the rights of the child.
The recommendations for indigenous persons are that summary matters in hinterland communities be resolved in one session as originally intended by this category of offences and in indictable matters they should be remanded in regional facilities rather than in Georgetown prison.
And finally, it was recommended that the Ministry of Health adopt a more pro-active responsibility to the health of the prison population in general and, in particular, with respect to HIV positive inmates, diabetic inmates and to mentally-ill inmates.
