Information technology equipment valued over US$150,000 was yesterday handed over by Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, to the Guyana Prisons Service (GPS) to aid in the rehabilitation of inmates upon their release and subsequent reintegration into society.
Nandlall, during the small handing-over ceremony in the boardroom of his ministry, said that the money to procure the 100 desktop computers, 10 laptop computers, 4 Wi-Fi routers, 4 laser jet printers and 5 projectors with screens, were procured from an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan. The money was given to the ministry which has since implemented a project to deal with prison issues such as overcrowding, inmates’ education, and training, to further improve or assist inmates with skills development.
“The Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Attorney General Chambers is the executing agency of an IDB loan to support the criminal justice system of Guyana… the prison service requires the ability to rehabilitate… and prepare that person for a new beginning when they are released from the system… this initiative will provide the Guyana Prison Service with a large number of computer equipment and air conditioning units and these equipment will benefit with New Amsterdam and Timehri Prison Centres, and of course the Mazaruni Prison.,” Nandlall was quoted as saying.
The minister noted that additional funds from the loan will also go towards developing other institutions which fall under his ministry, including the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force.
Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot, at the handing over ceremony revealed that the training and initiatives implemented at the ministerial level have resulted in the prisons’ incident rate dropping from 13 per cent in 2021 to 10 per cent in 2022. Elliot said that it is the GPS’s duty to equip inmates with the necessary tools, that upon their release, they are capable of becoming someone better in society. “… As you are aware we are responsible for ensuring that those persons are equipped with the necessary skills and tools to make them marketable on their released from prison… last year we would have trained over fourteen hundred persons in different skilled areas and this year we are seeking to ensure that all categories of prisoners are exposed to the various type of training programmes under our care…” Elliot added, “At our level at the prison service, there are a number of ongoing developmental activities regarding our infrastructure, and that infrastructure will cater for these types of training programmes, especially the computer training programme… this will go a very far way.”
Present at the ceremony were other officials of the GPS who thanked the ministry for their involvement in bettering prisoners across the regions in Guyana and said that they were looking forward for more projects to be implemented which will involve the prisoners.
