Improvised weapons, other contraband found during prison raids

Members of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), Guyana Fire Service (GFS), and Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Saturday conducted a search at all Prison locations, during which a number of contraband items were found.
These searches lasted some five hours. According to the GPS, the aim of this exercise was to sanitise the prisons of all contraband, ensuring that there is no breach of the physical infrastructure, while simultaneously sensitising prisoners about the negative impact of contraband in prison.
“Operation Sanitise is (done) with the aim of enhancing the national effort to provide public safety”, the Guyana Police Force has stated in a release to the press.

Acting Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot, has said that there has been a significant decrease in the number of contraband and prohibited items being found within the Prisons. Further, he noted that the issue of contraband in prison remains a concern for the Prison Directorate, and that several security measures have been put in place to prevent and reduce contraband in prison. These measures are subject to periodic review.
Meanwhile, he took the opportunity to warn Prison Officers, civilians, and prisoners who seek to organize the entry of contraband into the prison that they will be charged criminally and placed before the court.
During the search,17 cell phones and 56 improvised weapons, which include sharpened toothbrushes, sharpened wooden and metal objects, four packs of cigarettes, a number of fermented wines and a number of lighters, were found.
Two weeks ago, joint services’ ranks conducted a search in the Mazaruni Prison, during which a quantity of cannabis and other contraband items were found. That search, which lasted for several hours, unearthed 16 cigarette lighters, 10 cellular phones, 3 phone batteries, 17 improvised weapons, 25 grams of cannabis and a quantity of cigarettes. No incidents were reported during the search.