Reconstruction at the Camp Street prison recently recommenced, months after it was stopped due to the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and upon completion it will accommodate one hundred and eighty inmates.
Speaking to Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Director of Prisons Gladwin Samuels said that the reconstruction is presently being done in three parts.
Each part, he said, will comprise twenty cells which will accommodate sixty prisoners.
According to Samuels, the reconstruction at the Camp Street prison, which was burnt to the ground by prisoners in July, 2017, had started a while ago but was stopped after Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case in March.
“….I think the last day they would have worked prior to the restart was April….They would have stopped working on that date,” Samuels said.
However, Samuels added after being given clearance by the relevant authorities about two weeks ago, the reconstruction has recommenced.
Hundreds of inmates were dislocated following the major fire at the Camp Street prison facility in 2017. It was the second attempt within a year. On March 3rd 2016, prisoners had also set fire to the capital offences section of the Camp Street Prison and 17 prisoners died.
About a year after, Samuels had announced that construction of new holding facilities at the Camp Street Prison was likely to commence before the end of 2018.
Samuels had noted that they have already awarded a contract to a US company to construct prefabricated cells. He stated that the new buildings will be built to accommodate the cells, which have the capacity to hold up to three prisoners.
Early last year, former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan had said that the pre-fabricated steel cells had arrived and were already on site to be erected.
The arrangement, he had said was one of the solutions identified to release the strain on the penitentiaries caused by overcrowding, which has been significantly exacerbated since the 2016 and 2017 prison fires at the Camp Street jail.
In July this year, Samuels had told this newspaper that some 350 prisoners were released as part of efforts to reduce the size of the inmate population in the overcrowded prisons in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Overcrowding is a big issue. 180 prisoners will not significantly dent that situation or relief that situation but it is a work in progress,” Samuels noted yesterday.
Halted
Meanwhile, Samuels further explained that work on the first phrase of the Mazaruni Prison expansion was also halted in early April due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He said the contractors were recently given clearance to recommence construction but they are currently sorting out some logistics.
“They have been given clearance but there are some requirements in terms of persons returning to the compound, so the contractors are working out the logistics right now to address that,” Samuels said.
Once this is done, Samuels said works should be able to recommence at the Mazaruni prison soon.
The completion of Phase One of the Mazaruni Prison will accommodate an additional 200 prisoners.
“When phase two is completed which will run into next year, it will accommodate another 200 prisoners,” Samuels added.
In July, Samuels had said that efforts were being made to have the expansion of the Mazaruni Prison and the rebuilding of the Georgetown Prison completed.
Samuels had said that works at the two facilities were halted on April 2nd and 3rd, respectively following the COVID-19 outbreak. “Had it not been for COVID, phase one of Mazaruni Prison, which has the capacity to accommodate 200 prisoners, would have been completed,” he had said.
