The Opposition’s attempt to have a Commission of Inquiry (COI) established to investigate the September 19th, 2020 unrest at the Lusignan Prison during which two inmates lost their lives and several others were injured, was defeated on Thursday after the Government used its majority to vote against the motion.
In her motion, APNU+AFC Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Geeta Chandan-Edmond called for the administration to fully disclose everything that happened at the Lusignan Prison during the unrest.
She also requested that the public be fully informed of the measures put in place to prevent a possible recurrence and for the government to “accept collective responsibility” for the unrest and the resultant loss of life.
While the motion was titled “Appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the unrest at the Lusignan prison, the subsequent deaths of and the injury of several prisoners on the 19th day of September, 2020”, there was no such request in its resolve clauses.
The preamble to the motion reminded that the Commission of Inquiry Act, Chapter 19:03 grants the President the power to establish a commission “to inquire into any matters in which an inquiry would in the opinion of the President be for the public welfare”.
However, the motion in itself does not ask for such a commission be established.
In her opening remarks, Chandan-Edmond said that she did not expect the motion to be a “controversial” one and described it as one of humanity.
“It is a motion about the society we want to live in, it is a motion about a family who are demanding justice, it is about finding out what exactly happened on that fateful day. It is about the truth, is it about justice, it is about the future of our country and the good governance,” Chandan-Edmond asserted.
She said that an investigation is “critical” in order to determine what took place, who are responsible, and to take steps to ensure that there are no recurrences.
“….This motion seeks to put all theories and accounts to bed. In so doing, we expected deliverance of justice to the families, answers to the nation, the identification of lapses and breaches for correction, the consideration of policy making remedies, and above all, a critical need to identify culpability, if the facts so determine,” Chandan-Edmond, a former magistrate, stated.
She further added that the motion “does not seek to satisfy any political pursuit or quench any political thirst and I say this from the depths of my heart.”
Instead she said that it was “tabled with the best of intentions and in the interest of making this country better on the subject under examination and by extension respecting the sanctity of life, respecting human rights and providing to the families”
However, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn did not support the motion saying that the Government has already undertaken a number of measures to address the issues faced by the prison service.
This is a task, he said, which should have been carried out by the previous APNU+AFC administration.
Inherited
During his contribution, Benn said that the existing inhumane conditions at the Lusignan Prison were inherited by the Government. “We came and we met them there and we attempted to immediately respond to the problem,” he said.
Upon entering office, Benn noted that this was the first thing which he pointed out to the government that had to be addressed in the security sector. “In fact I pointed out that the prisoners were living in worse conditions than the pigs and chickens we have out there,” Benn said.
Benn further stated that the unrest that unfolded at the Lusignan prison started with the 2016 fire at the Camp Street prison which resulted in the death of 17 prisoners.
“That’s where it started. It started there but it was compounded by the fact that they put these men from the Georgetown Prison, added them to those from Lusignan, mix them all together and have them under sheds, basically open to the weather near a swamp,” Benn argued
According to Benn, the government will continue its work to improve the conditions of the prisons.
Outlining some of works which are ongoing to improve the situation at the facility, Benn said that two new dormitories are currently being constructed and the government is working towards establishing five new prison modules.
By the end of this year, he said, three of those prison modules which will house 600 persons are expected to be in place. “So what we will do in one year, you were unable to do in five years,” Benn told the House.
In addition, he said the Government has restarted the expansion project at the Mazaruni prison.
A number of other speakers including Opposition member Jermaine Figueira, former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, and Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton also spoke on the motion.
Ramjattan said that the government appears to have gotten the “core and crux’ of the motion misplaced.
He said that when deaths of such a nature occur, it is “incumbent” for any administration to conduct an inquiry that is separate from that which will be carried out by the prison authorities.
He said that the Government will be doing the citizens of the country a “dishonour” if an “independent” inquiry is not done into the unrest.
Dr Anthony who accompanied Benn to the Lusignan Prison on the morning of the unrest recalled that during the interaction with the prisoners, the main concern raised was the slowdown of the court system due to the coronavirus outbreak, which resulted in delayed trials.
“So their main focus was always about trying to see how you can restart the court system so that they can get a hearing,” Anthony said.
Neglecting
Also debating the motion was Minister Hamilton, who accused the opposition of neglecting the issues faced by the prison service and other security agencies.
Hamilton said the government has taken several actions to address the issue.
“Unlike the previous government who neglected to do that… We are fixing what Mr Ramjattan and his Government left in a deplorable state, the prison service, and whatever situation develops because of the overcrowding, that was a factor… because of the mismanagement of the previous government of the prison service and the system. Lusignan became what is was not intended to be,” he explained.
On September 19th, 2020, two inmates; Earl Graham and Winston Herbert were fatally wounded and several others were injured after members of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) fired live rounds at inmates to prevent a breakout.
The GPS had said that the men were shot at by guards stationed in the prison’s tower in the midst of rushing towards the main gate to escape.
The shooting capped off hours of protests by inmates over a number of issues, including overcrowding at the facility and the risk of exposure to COVID-19, which were raised earlier in the day when Benn and Anthony visited.
Overcrowding at the facility has been a longstanding concern.
