While saying the prison system is at a “bad place,” Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn yesterday told the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) leadership that it offers an opportunity for retooling to make significant improvements.
Benn was speaking at the opening ceremony of the GPS Senior Officer’s Conference, where he detailed his vision for realizing better facilities and advanced welfare for both inmates and prison staff over the next three years.
The two-day conference is being hosted at the Guyana Police Force Training Centre Auditorium at Camp Street, under the theme “Working towards improving the image of the Guyana Prison Service”.
“Maybe overall we could say we are at a bad place. There were things which we could have done and which were not done in the right way. We have to learn from that experience,” Benn said during his address, while adding that it paves the way for improvement. “….Then you can move forward and fix everything as you go forward. You can identify, emphasise, retool, rethink, refashion, [and] optimise to make significant improvement,” he added.
According to Benn, while imprisonment is a punishment, the welfare and rehabilitation of prisoners are key responsibilities which follow.
Of equal importance, he said, is the manner in which prisoners are treated and housed while in custody.
“We should not find ourselves in situations where those people are kept in degrading conditions. We should not find ourselves where there are issues relating to diet, welfare, relationships with their families and also in respect of the issue that when they leave our care that they turn out to be worse human beings or destroyed psychologically or physically as human beings,” Benn explained.
He reminded the senior officers that it is their duty to ensure that prisoners are rehabilitated so that when they return to society they do not cause any “further” harm.
“…The fact is that they have to return to society and we want them to see improvements in their lives and in their situation. So if there are issues in relation to their education, psychological or other counselling, [or] in relation to them learning additional job skills, those are the things which relate to reforming and reintegrating prisoners back into society,” Benn related.
He further urged the senior officials to develop a new attitude as to how prisoners are treated.
“I don’t want prisoners beaten, maltreated, not given proper food, don’t have enough fruit, vegetables or protein. I want to see significant improvement in that situation,” he stated.
The conference will focus mainly on ways in which the GPS can be improved. Emphasis will also be placed on addressing the challenges currently faced by the organisation.
It is expected that at the end of the conference, all senior officers will be equipped with the relevant information to enhance their daily work performance.
Director of Prisons (ag) Nicklon Elliot, who also spoke at the opening, called upon the officers to make a pledge to be committed in performing their duties, “…to developing the best attitude for working towards the improvement of the management of the Guyana Prison Service staff and the public we all serve.”
Elliot further urged the senior officers to endeavour at all times to set the right example in order to enhance the general operation and outlook of the all prison facilities.
