Mazaruni Prison to house more prisoners from Georgetown
More prison blocks are being built at the Mazaruni Prison in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) to facilitate a
President David Granger and other officals during his visit to the Mazaruni Prison
massive transfer of prisoners from the Georgetown Prison in an effort to ease the overcrowding at the facility.
This was disclosed by President David Granger who was at the time responding to questions posed by media operatives during his weekly telecast ‘The Public Interest’.
In light of last month’s deadly prison riot, Government began taking proactive measures towards ensuring there is no repeat of the situation.
“The problems will not be resolved unless there is a massive redeployment of prisoners from Georgetown to Mazaruni… Mazaruni has the space and it needs to be reinforced and fortified,” Granger emphasised.
In fact, he outlined three basic issues that need to be addressed in order to effect successful reforms to the prison system.
Unprofessionalism
President Granger ranked the second biggest problem contributing to the weakness of the prison service as the staff – their limited numbers and unprofessionalism. He said arrangements are being made to provide these individuals with enhanced training.
Returning to the issue of overcrowding, Granger pointed out that it is a consequence of the criminal justice system – an element which the prison service has no control over.
“So if the Magistrate remands someone to prison then the prison service is obliged to keep that person,” he explained.
Nonetheless, he assured that engagements are ongoing between the executive branch and the judicial branch to examine the sentencing policies to ensure that custodial sentences would be reviewed so that there will not be a huge buildup of persons on remand in the prison.
According to the Head of State, it appears that the prisoners on remand are the ones more likely to rebel than those who have been convicted.
Contraband trade
Another issue that needs to be addressed is the smuggling of contraband items into the prison.
President Granger indicated that changes in this regard will occur overtime, once the first three problems identified above are addressed fully.
“It is impossible for that level of contraband traffic to have occurred without the complicity of a few officers,” he noted.
On this note, the Commander-in-Chief said the main purpose of the heightened cordons around the Camp Street facility is to ensure persons no longer throw items over the fence into the prison compound.
