Dear Editor,
In spite of the fact that numerous governments around the world have sensibly implemented vital measures which are essential to safeguarding the lives of their vulnerable prison staff and inmates from becoming victims of the deadly novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the Government of Guyana (GoG) and the Guyana Prisons Service (GPS) have not yet instituted adequate measures.
This is even though the Guyana Human Rights Association on April 4, 2020 called for measures to be taken to reduce overcrowding in the prisons given the potential risks to prison staff and inmates.
However, the Prison Service has instituted a few regulations which need to be revised and modified and they are as follows:
Observation period – with 2 – 14 days being the window for some infected persons to experience COVID -19 symptoms, this has led the GPS to implement and balance the on and off duty work roster for its prison staff. This will basically enable staff members who may experience COVID -19 symptoms to undergo testing before they proceed off duty or return to work. This logical 14-day initiative although welcomed and applauded by numerous staff members and their families, has not been implemented since presently about 95 % of the staff members who are stationed at the Mazaruni Prison do not benefit from the 14- day roster. Instead they are working between six to seven consecutive weeks with only six days off duty.
Influx prevention – to help prevent the influx of the COVID -19 into the prisons, GPS suspended usual visits to inmates but sometimes the Mazaruni prison staff who live in Bartica (Region 7) go home every evening, which basically means society is still not quarantined against its prisons.
Social/physical distancing – the GPS reduced the number of inmates who attend church services to ten, but some of the sections and dormitories in the prisons have way over 10 inmates; in fact about 70 inmates are closely housed together and some of them share a small mattress.
Hand washing – at various locations within the prisons, GPS placed on the walls, a notice with hand washing instructions and they also installed a few sinks, but some of the inmates don’t know how to read and at times no hand washing soap has been made available at the sinks. The monthly hampers that the Prisons normally issues to inmates do not always includes soap and when it does include soap, only 1 or 2 are issued to each inmate.
To ensure the GPS is better equipped to help safeguard its staff and inmates against COVID -19 and to ensure that all applicable national and international COVID-19 health and safety guidelines are equitably and fairly extended to the prisons, it is imperative for such guidelines to be urgently instituted for every prison’s staff members and inmates so as to pave the way for a smooth and strategic implementation of these recommended practices.
In a humane approach to bring about a vital and timely resolution to these circumstances I am respectfully suggesting the GPS consider instituting the following measures:
(1) GPS to impartially implement the 14-day work roster for all its prison staff, especially for those who are stationed at the Mazaruni Prisons.
(2) Vulnerable prison staff – all staff members who are 50 years and older and those who have any underlying health conditions such as: heart disease, diabetes, HIV, respiratory and immune deficiencies etc, to be given alternative jobs or job transfers that will prevent them from coming into contact with a large number of inmates and other staff members.
(3)Vulnerable inmates- all inmates who are 50 years and older who have any of the underlying health condition stated in (2) to be released by: parole licence, presidential pardon or self-bail, whichever is applicable to the inmates.
(4)All inmates who have a few months remaining on their sentence to be granted 28 and 90 days special remission.
(5) For persons who are first offenders and those who are vulnerable, in order to help reduce, control and stabilise the influx and number of inmates so as to reach and maintain COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, they can be granted self-bail or reasonable bail as well as prioritising the commencement of trials for the following categories of persons:
(i) Persons who did not plead guilty to their charge(s)
(ii) Appellants who did not solely appeal for a lesser sentence but rather, appealed their conviction or case etc.
(iii) The commencement of inmates’ trials, first preference being given to persons who are released on bail.
In conclusion I wish to state the following:
To date the Government has not announced any COVID-19 case in the prisons but neither did they announce if they had ever conducted any COVID-19 tests on prison staff.
While the Government is applying zero-tolerance in enforcing COVID-19 social distancing measures for a number of residential and non-essential workers across Guyana, this is not being enforced within the country’s prisons. I trust that good sense will prevail and a humane approach can and will be taken expeditiously to bring the prisons staff and inmates and by extension Guyana’s prisons, in line with all necessary national and international COVID -19 guidelines.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)