Prisons Service should focus on vulnerability of jails
-- Rohee
By Wendella Davidson
Guyana Chronicle
January 26, 2007
HOME Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has urged top Guyana Prisons Service officers to zero in on the vulnerability of prisons, saying there are several components they have to address.
In the wake of the recent jailbreak at the Mazaruni Prisons, he said areas to be looked at include the competence of the organisation, recapturing prisoners thus allaying the fears of citizens, and putting mechanisms in place to ensure no more jail breaches would occur.
He also exhorted the officers to explore other avenues by which they can utilise the limited resources allotted to them to maximise efficiency.
Mr. Rohee’s call came Wednesday as the top brass of the Prisons Service began reviewing operations over the past year, trying to identify solutions for areas of shortfalls and setting projections for the new year.
They opened the strategic management conference Wednesday at the Regency Suite/Hotel on Hadfield Street, Georgetown and are scheduled to wrap up the sessions today.
The nine convicted prisoners who escaped from the Mazaruni Prisons on January 12 last were all recaptured in a sustained Joint Services operation within 12 days.
Rohee lauded the efforts of the Joint Services in recapturing the prisoners and reminded conference delegates that the GPS has a pivotal role to play in national security.
He, however, cautioned against persons taking the service for granted.
He implored the service to strive to remove itself from being the focal point to being low key, noting that every time there is some unfortunate development at the prisons it affects the well-being of the nation.
Among issues the conference is addressing are the welfare of officers, reviewing the corrective services offered to inmates, examining the competence of officers in information technology, new initiatives for capacity building and staff mobilisation, as well as training.
On this note, Rohee reminded that training of prison officers is of paramount importance at this time and should lead towards professionalism. He lamented, though, that a review by him of all the jailbreaks highlighted the lack of professionalism on the part of some officers.
He spoke too of the need for officers to strive to be able to resolve grievances by prisoners and develop the instinct to detect when there is some uneasiness within the environment.
As such, he said, the prisons system would elevate itself from just being a service to that of a corrective institution with the ultimate aim of reintegrating those incarcerated back into society.
Touching on the agriculture sector of the GPS, the Home Affairs Minister observed that it can achieve greater efficiency through diversification and expansion, adding that if those aspects are seriously addressed, this would lessen the whole aspect of the prisons’ dependence on the government, thus easing the pressure on the national budget.
Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine, in opening remarks, alluded to the “opportune” scheduling of the conference, in reference to the successful recapture of the escaped prisoners.
He said the incident has and will continue to intensify the resolve of the organisation he heads “to re-examine all the prisons and their capacities to respond to the multi-dimensional challenges” that now characterise the GPS.
Mr. Erskine noted that there is the argumentative view that prisons are failing institutions from the point of view that they are an ineffective deterrent and considered as a breeding ground for producing criminals and violence.
Notwithstanding those negative attributes, he posited that the prison system will remain an integral member of the criminal justice system in any country, as it protects society from those considered threats to the maintenance of law and order.
This, he said, is a recognition seldom bestowed on men and women working within the prison system.