Incarcerating women should be last resort – Prison CoI

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The Commission of Inquiry into the Camp Street Prison disturbances and resultant deaths of March 2016 recommended that incarcerating women should be done as a last resort; rather halfway houses should be established so that “they can get their lives together.”
President David Granger commissioned the inquiry to probe the disturbances and resultant deaths of 18 prisoners at the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown on the morning of March 3, 2016. The Commission was tasked with inquiring into all circumstances surrounding the death of 18 prisoners from the Camp Street Prison,

report the findings and conclusions to the Public Security Ministry, and make recommendations on any action that should be taken to avoid a recurrence.
The Commission was headed by retired Justice, and now Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, James Patterson and was tasked with examining and making findings and recommendations to improve physical infrastructure of the prison; the existing security arrangements in respect of the custody, management and control of prisoners; outlining the appropriate treatment of prisoners in compliance with legal and other requirements and to recommend measures to prevent a recurrence of any such disturbance.
Justice Patterson and the other Commissioners – former Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine and Merle Mendonca handed over the report to President David Granger in June of 2016.
“A women’s remand prison should be established in Demerara within the Lusignan Prison environment. A halfway house for non-violent women offenders must be established. A halfway house should provide rehabilitation in the form of a process of reestablishing self-confidence and problem-solving skills with regular access to their children. Judges and Magistrates must respect incarceration of women as a last resort measure,” the report recommended.
The report also recommended the decriminalising of possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use and also for alternative sentencing for low-level drug offences, while establishing and expanding alternatives to incarceration for those charged with low-level drug offences.
It also called for the distinction between drug trafficking and other types of crime; low, medium and high-level drug offences; rank or position of the accused in drug trafficking networks and violent and non-violent offences.
It was also recommended that the Law Revision Commission should be resuscitated since it has the mandate to look at legislations and tailor it for the future.
“Judges and Magistrates must be trained in application of sentencing guidelines. Visits to prisons by the Judges and Magistrates must be viewed as a constitutive and obligatory aspect of their duties. Minimum numbers of visits per year should be established, implemented and monitored by the Chancellor and Chief Justice,” the report recommended.
In addition, the report suggests that there should be a limit for the time on remand should be considered.
The CoI recommends the creation of a high-level committee representing all of the agencies with responsibilities to the prison system with the purpose of creating and overseeing implementation of a coordinated strategy for reducing and sustaining the prison population to levels compatible with the UN Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Offenders.
Additionally, the report recommends an effective intelligence system must be created within the GPS.