The APNU+AFC Cabinet believes that acting Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels and staff should have systems in place for early detection and addressing of prisoners’ concerns as those have the propensity to spiral out of control and cause unrest, Minister of State Joseph Harmon says.
It is in this vein that Cabinet requested that Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan set up a special team of security experts to discuss how the overall prison system can be strengthened in the near and short-term while Samuels was directed to immediately address concerns raised by the prisoners.
The team was assembled and Ramjattan told Stabroek News that he met with them on Friday and they gave short and long-term recommendations. The recommendations are similar to those discussed and proposed at Cabinet.
“We did express our concern that those little issues, which are operational in nature, must be addressed by the Director of Prisons and his officers and also the officers should, on a regular (basis), interact with those prisoners to find out if there are issues which are brewing,” Harmon told a post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday.
“The minister has been asked to convene a special team of officers and technical persons who would have an understanding of the prison system to meet with him and to advise on further steps to be taken,” he added.
The Minister of State explained that at last Tuesday’s meeting of Cabinet, the day after unrest erupted at the Lusignan Prison where, following the escape of three prisoners, eight inmates were shot, Ramjattan briefed his colleagues and the matter was discussed.
“There were two sets of issues, one which was of an operational nature and that had to do with why these incidents were occurring. These are incidents where, (as a result of) interviews with the prisoners … incidents with the meals, accommodation, water and sanitary facilities (were raised). These are operational issues which are well within the parameter of the Director of Prisons and the Director of Prisons was given some clear directions to ensure those matters were addressed…The second (was) of the strategic level which requires higher levels of intervention,” Harmon said.
Eight inmates were shot during efforts to quell the unrest at the Lusignan Prison last week Monday evening, following the escape of three others earlier that day.
The Ministry of Public Security later said that during the unrest, the prisoners hurled hundreds of missiles directly at officers, damaged the inner holding bay fences and exited the confined area. “They then focused their attention on gaining access to the gate that allows exit from the location by using several items to hit the gate but they were unsuccessful in their attempt,” a release from the Ministry said.
Samuels subsequently met with inmates at their request and he received complaints
about the facility’s physical infrastructure, prisoners not receiving lunch, periods of imprisonment and the behaviour of some of the junior ranks. The Ministry said these concerns were noted and actions will be taken where necessary.
Last Wednesday, Ramjattan had also said that not much can be done at this point to rectify the situation at the Lusignan Prison and though he had reached out to many international organisations and made them aware of the circumstances, his funding requests for the construction of prisons were rejected. He added that government was doing the best it could.
On Friday, Ramjattan told Stabroek News that at the meeting with the security experts, the team, whose members were not identified, made short and long-term recommendations and his ministry would be working with them.
“We are recommending some immediate short-term remedies as a result of what has happened with the burning of mattresses and pallets and they are saying that the water is contaminated and things like that…We are also dealing with long-term and there will be checks at Mazaruni, the steel cell arrangements for Camp Street and so on,” he said.
Asked if the group’s meeting would be continuing, he replied, “I don’t want it to be an ongoing meeting. I want to have recommendations and get the finances to fix the holding bay area again. They destroyed lights, mattresses, pallets, broke out the entire asphalted ground for the holding bay so we have to do back that kind of rehabilitation works.
They broke the wire fencing and separation. The fire also burnt some zinc and rafters. I wanted some experts who knows about that.
Also what we do with those officers that are rank-and-file and so on, those types of things,” he said.
He is hoping that as the recommendations are implemented, the situation of protests and unrests at the prisons would be alleviated.
