Prison overcrowding has been an age-old issue for the justice sector. To this end, the Support for the Criminal Justice System (SCJS) programme has advanced a number of steps aimed at arresting the problem including sentencing guidelines and a bill on bail.
This was announced by Project Manager of the SCJS, Indira Anandjit and Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandall SC during their respective presentations yesterday at the opening ceremony of the programme’s mid-year review.
Legal aid, restorative justice and the utilization of community and probation services were offered as means to address the problem of prison overcrowding which Anandjit said is hoped will bring some measure of relief to the police, prosecutorial, judicial and prison resources.
The SCJS noted in its report that the overuse of pre-trial detention contributes to prison overcrowding and is compounded by a number of factors, including detainees’ lack of legal representation.
It is against this background Anandjit, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, indicated that through its pilot programme, the SCJS’s Legal Aid Clinic is improving access to justice by providing free legal representation for offenders on remand for minor, non-violent offences.
Some of the offences alluded to in this category are, break-and–enter and larceny, robbery, traffic offences and narcotic possession.
The project manager said that the Legal Aid Clinic has been able to secure bail for many of its clients, who may otherwise have been remanded to prison—thereby adding to the overcrowding. Remanded prisoners she said, can access the services of the clinic by communicating to an officer-in-charge, their desire to have a legal-aid attorney represent them.
Anandjit said, too, that walk-in clients can also access services at their 341 East Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown office. This legal aid clinic was established in January of last year.
Also on the issue of pre-trial detention, the SCJS noted that “despite the universal principle of presumption of innocence, Guyana like many other countries, imprisons a high proportion of persons while they await trial,” stating that “almost 40% of Guyanese inmates are pre-trial detainees.”
According to the SCJS’s review, a major factor contributing to prison overcrowding in Guyana is what it described as “the flawed nature” of the bail system. On this point it highlighted that while the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act contains provisions for granting bail, it is left largely at the discretion of each magistrate, “which leads to the inconsistencies in the granting of bail, as well as a high proportion of pre-trial detainees.”
The report further highlighted that overcrowding is compounded by persons who, though granted bail, are unable to post the amount and must therefore remain in prison.
To this end, the Attorney General alluded to the introduction of a Bail Act which he said is currently with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel after having had consultations with the Guyana Bar Association and the Judiciary.
Nandlall said it is hoped that after the resumption of Parliament, the Bill will be passed. He said the bail Bill is intended among other things, to have a more “consistent, lawful and uniform” exercise of discretion by the Courts.
The AG announced, too, the SCJS is working on sentencing guidelines which he said have been missing from the local legal framework for far too long. Here, he said that the hope would be to bring consistency in sentencings.
The SCJS report noted that in many instances, persons unable to post the bail amount granted end up serving a longer time on remand than they would have served if found guilty of the offence.
It then went on to add that though Guyana’s legislation eschews the grant of excessive bail, the high proportion of pre-trial detainees supports the conclusion that this practice persists and continues to be a major contributing factor to prison overcrowding.
Theory
Meanwhile, offering restorative justice as another solution to overcrowding, the report said that this is a theory of justice which focuses on repairing the harm caused by criminal behaviour by bringing the victim, offender and their “communities of care” together in a decision-making process with the aim of determining how the victim can be healed and to address the underlying cause of the offender’s “inappropriate, illegal or antisocial behaviour.”
It said that restorative justice provides a way to ensure justice is served while keeping persons accused of minor, non-violent offences out of prison.
Given the cost to feed and care for prisoners, the SCJS report said that the use of alternative sentencing options, such as restorative justice are ideal, while noting that it costs less to implement and would ultimately reduce overcrowding.
Nandlall has said that a Restorative Justice Bill has been drafted and that standards, guidelines and rules of procedure for implementation have already been developed. To this end, he said that training in restorative justice has already commenced for community leaders across Guyana to be equipped with means of getting complainants and offenders (once they agree), to sit together and arrive at amicable solutions to their differences.
He said it is an enquiry into the life, psychology, sociology and the environmental upbringing of an offender in a bid to understanding the reason they have offended.
Restorative justice the AG said, allows for the social issues to be tackled from the root and for a smooth, easier transition and reintegration of an offender into society.
Nandlall who is also Minster of Legal Affairs, said that his ministry is currently in partnership with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, to create a “one-stop shop,” where he said victims would be able to visit and interface with all relevant stakeholders—police and health services representatives, counselors, attorneys and others.
He said the aim is to bring all the key services to one location to ease victims from having to visit various organizations which can possibly lead to the process being aborted, out of frustration.
Regarding community service as an alternative to sentencing, the SCJS said it is both effective and humane, requiring offenders in minor non-violent offences to perform hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community, as a way of paying back to society.
The report said that the introduction of structured community service will have the effect of decreasing the prison population, and could also help to make amends for the harm done to victims, by providing a way to rehabilitate minor non-violent offenders through useful and beneficial community work.
Finally, offered as an alternative to imprisonment was probation, which allows for an offender to remain in the community under the supervision of a Probation Officer for a specified period of one to three years.
The report noted that being placed on probation does not mean that offenders get off lightly, but instead gives them an opportunity to make amends and rehabilitate themselves as they remain in their communities, while at the same time offering a viable alternative to sentencing for offences that can so accommodate.
According to the SCJS report, only a small percentage of offenders are on probation in Guyana.
The SCJS was established by government through the Ministry of Legal Affairs with assistance from the Inter-American Development Bank.
Yesterday’s ceremony was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre and was attended by acting Chief Justice Roxane George, Chief Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan and other members of the judiciary and magistracy.
A number of senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force and representatives of other local, regional and international stakeholder-agencies were also in attendance.
