Linden highway site identified for new prison
Stabroek News
February 27, 2003
The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified a 100-acre site on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway for the relocation of the Georgetown Prisons.
Sources close to the ministry have told Stabroek News that a team of ministry officials including officers from the Prison Service is having discussions with the Lands and Surveys Commission to ensure that the site is free and clear.
The officials are also looking at other logistical arrangements such as the supply of water and electricity before a decision is taken to start building. The new prison will replace the present facility at Camp street, but observers have told Stabroek News that there would still be a need for a holding unit in Georgetown. Also they said that consideration would have to be given to holding remand hearings within the precincts of the new facility.
For some years now there has been concern about the suitability of the current site of the George-town Prisons at Camp and Durban streets. The escape from the Camp street jail on February 23, 2002, which sparked an unprecedented crime wave has heightened those concerns.
In other developments Stabroek News has learnt that the ministry is pursuing the acquisition of helicopters and armoured cars to assist the police in their fight against crime.
A team headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police is spearheading the preparations for the acquisition of the new equipment, which include the identification of officers to undergo flight training as well as support services.
The helicopter would be under the command of the police but this newspaper understands the assistance of the Guyana Defence Force would be sought in the areas of training and maintenance.
