In a bid to decrease the overcrowding at the jails around the country, President David Granger said his government is going to spend over $300 million to expand the Mazaruni Prison to accommodate about 500 more prisoners.
Speaking on the weekly televised programme The Public Interest, Granger related that there was no provision in the 2017 budget for the construction of a new prison since the government was going to spend a lot of money on the expansion of the Mazaruni Prison.
He pointed out that the three main prisons, Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Mazaruni, were almost 150 years old and since the ones in Georgetown and New Amsterdam were built in urban areas no expansion was possible.
He added that while Georgetown was currently overcrowded and some of the hardcore prisoners had already been transferred to Mazaruni, that was the only prison where an expansion could be done.
“It’s almost a little village. The prison officials, the wardens have to live there with their family. There’s a workshop there and there’s a little landing for the boats so maintenance of Mazaruni is going to soak up a lot of funds for public security…,” Granger said.
He explained that the government is also going to work towards developing the farms so that the Guyana Prison Service can rely on its own produce. They will also develop the workshop so that prisoners can be rehabilitated.
“We are going to have more secured facilities so that the likelihood of riots in the future will not be a big concern. As you know we had a big problem in 2002 and 2016 but we are looking to solve the overcrowding problem,” he said, while adding that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo led a team recently to examine sentencing policies with the head of the judicial branch so that there can be alternative forms of sentencing for persons convicted of minor offences.
“…But we are aware of the problem and the solution is not to build more prisons but to consolidate what we have and spend our money at Mazaruni and to examine sentencing policy more closely,” he added.
He said he was the issue of overcrowding will cease to exist after the expansion of the Mazaruni Prison. In addition to the expansion, he pointed out that sentencing policies and the increased rate at which persons are taken to court are all going to contribute to the decrease in the prison population. “I would say that Georgetown ought not to have more than 500 and sometimes it goes up to 800 to 900 so it is incumbent on the administration to provide accommodation for anything like 400 to 500 more prisoners at Mazaruni,” he added, stating that while they do not intend on increasing the prisoner population, they want to ensure that persons who commit serious offences are not let loose in the public.
Granger added that while the ministry has a lot of challenges in the police, prison and fire and narcotics departments was taking up a lot of the budget, he feels the expenditure will result in citizens being safer in their homes.
