Even as he called the blaming of magistrates for the overcrowding in the prison system unfair, acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Carl Singh yesterday urged judicial officers to take into consideration all circumstances before making a decision on bail.
Justice Singh was making remarks during the opening ceremony of the Justice Education Society (JES) ‘Seminar on Trial Management in the Magistrates Court: Canadian and Guyanese Perspectives.’ The two-event is being held at the Georgetown Club and focuses largely on addressing the backlog in the Magistrate’s Court system.
He made direct reference to the prison unrest in March, which resulted in the deaths of 17 prisoners and also left both prisoners and prison wardens nursing injuries, and he noted that one of the reasons for this was the issue of overcrowding.
Justice Singh said he got the “distinct impression” that magistrates were being blamed for the overcrowding at the prison and that it was felt that they were wrong to remand persons to prison. “I think those suggestions, whether direct or subtle, were rather unjust and unfair to our magistrates,” he said, before adding that he was not prepared to tell any magistrate not to make remand orders.
“I will urge, however, that careful consideration be given to all the attending circumstances where the matter under consideration before a magistrate is a bailable one. In the same breath, I say, however, that there should also be consideration for the fact that the Georgetown Prison was built several decades ago, when our population was smaller and criminal occurrences stood at reduced levels,” he added.
Justice Singh noted that he was well aware that it might cost “a considerable sum of money but there are realities that confront us in the courts and they must be taken into consideration.”
Notwithstanding this, he agreed that where the circumstances permitted, magistrates could make greater use of alternatives to custodial sentences. “I am very happy to see that this subject, which we will almost immediately adopt in the magistrate’s court, will be a substantive topic for discussion in this programme,” he said.
According to Chancellor Singh, the JES works with partners around the world to deliver practical, integrated and impactful projects to both effective and accessible justice systems which are key to sustainable development, individual security and human rights. He said the JES, having completed a successful year of training in Guyana with magistrates and police, would be delighted to hear that the police have publicly praised the nature and quality of that training and attributed their success in criminal investigation and solutions in significant part to “their exposure by JES training and enhancement of their awareness of forensic training and techniques.”
He said a look at the programme for the seminar will show that the chosen topics include disclosure, trial management, alternative sentencing measures and case management and that these weigh significantly on this seminar’s theme of exploring opportunities for efficiency in the magistrates’ courts.
Justice Singh used the opportunity to congratulate Justice Brassington Reynolds for his efforts at putting together the “legislative matrix and other materials” for the alternative measures that will be considered. He said it needed to be said for the avoidance of misunderstanding that alternative measures, as part of the sentencing policy in the court, relate to a very narrow category of minor offences and to assure the public that serious criminal offences, where established by conviction, will be dealt with by the imposition of the sentences prescribed by law.
Among those seated in the audience were Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan and other magistrates, acting Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, Direc-tor of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack, senior police officials including Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, police prosecutors and Director of Prisons (ag) Gladwin Samuels.
Chargé d’Affaires Sharmini Poulin, speaking on behalf of the Canadian High Commissioner, to Guyana, said the strengthening of the criminal justice system in Guyana was Canada’s largest bilateral project here.
She said that it was a complex project that required a lot of engagement and cooperation by all parties involved to ensure that each component received the required attention.
According to Poulin, the makeup of those at the seminar was testimony to the commitment to the project.
The Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programme is providing funds to the JES, a Canadian NGO, to implement a two-year project to the tune of Cdn$750,000 ($106 million) in Guyana.
In January, four training programmes targeting 75 police officers and state prosecutors were initiated, with the aim of improving conviction rates.
Meanwhile, giving the keynote address, Chief Judge of the Provincial Court in British Columbia, Canada Thomas Crabtree spoke in-depth about the backlog in the magistrates’ courts. In January, he was invited by Justice Singh to conduct an assessment of the backlog and trial management issues.
Justice Crabtree told those gathered that he spent some time investigating, examining and observing court proceedings and focused his efforts particularly on the magistrates’ courts in Georgetown.
Noting that his homeland faced issues similar to Guyana when it came to the speedy resolution of cases, he revealed that for the time being Canada has addressed the trial delay issue as a time frame has been set during which matters must be completed
He pointed out that the determination of a person’s guilt or innocence must be done in a timely way. He said that the victim and those associated with the victim were entitled to similar treatment.
Justice Crabtree also made mention of the deadly prison unrest and said it was alarming to him.
