Improvement of prison conditions imminent with IDB funded survey – Ramjattan
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has stated that the results from the recently announced prisons survey will be used to design rehabilitation and social reintegration programmes for inmates.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Ramjattan stated that from the information gathered, they can glean and discern certain characteristics so that programmes and services can be developed.
“I want a science-based, evidence-based set of information that would tell me what should be the strategies and plans. A lot of time its adhocracy and to get out of that requires a very comprehensive survey that is going to be far more informative as to why they (inmates) did what they did and how it is they are paying the penalties,” he stated.
The Camp Street Prison
According to Ramjattan, the survey will be wide-ranging and would gather information on the lives of prisoners prior to incarceration, during imprisonment, and those of repeat offenders.
“We are going to seek information as to the background of each one of the inmates who are going to answer the questionnaires. Some might not want to answer the questionnaire but we want to get down to understanding from whence they came, what were their circumstances, what were the parenting they came from so that we can get a complete picture of these inmates and their background,” the Minister outlined.
He went on to say that this will help to make better assessments on how to plug programmes – whether it’s at the homes, domestic level or community level and also what can be done in relation to their education level.
The survey, which is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under its Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), will commence in September. It will be conducted by an Argentine University in collaboration with the University of Guyana.
The role of UG would be to capture the data, while the Tres de Febrero University of Argentina will be responsible for analysing the data and preparing and compiling the report. They will also overlook the implementation of the survey by the University of Guyana.
The data capturing period is slated to last some six weeks with a preliminary report expected by the end of November. The final report is expected at the end of April 2017. The final report will generate intellectual presentations on the conditions of the prisons and will make recommendations.
A 2015, United States, State Department Report on Human Rights had indicated that rehabilitation programmes within the local prison services did not adequately address the needs of prisoners. Overcrowding and the harsh conditions faced by inmates were also highlighted by the report.
More recently, a Commission of Inquiry into the prison riots of March 3, which resulted in the deaths of 17 inmates, pointed out overcrowding and inadequate facilities as some of the shortcomings of the system.
