Over 1000 prisoners to be accommodated at newly completed facilities

Overcrowding at prisons in Guyana would be significantly reduced with the completion of expansion works at existing penitentiaries, which would accommodate hundreds of inmates.
Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot, provided an update on the state of accommodation for prisoners across the penitentiaries.
Phase One of the Mazaruni Prison Expansion has been completed, and will house 220 prisoners; while Phase Two is ongoing, and will be completed by the end of the year to house another 150 inmates.
At Lusignan Prison, construction of three buildings has been completed, and over 900 prisoners would be accommodated, while another three structures will be completed within a few months. In addition, a new facility will be constructed for female prisoners at Lusignan, resulting in 80 inmates being housed.
Motion sensor devices and a security fence were installed at Lusignan penitentiary, and an infirmary annex at the facility has led to improved healthcare services for inmates.
“We will continue all efforts to ensure that there is adequate provision in the area of mechanical and other forms of security interventions to provide a safe environment for employees, inmates and the general public,” Elliot explained.
He added, “A number of repairs were done to buildings, increased security searches, provision of adequate means of transportation; and functional technological devices, including surveillance and communication equipment to maintain the Service’s operational posture.”
For staffers, the construction of living quarters at the East Coast Demerara penitentiary is ongoing. Upon completion, 150 ranks will be accommodated.
General security at the prisons, the Director indicated, is considered ‘satisfactory’.
In light of this, five escapes occurred last year at various locations. Those persons were recaptured, and are back in custody.
“These escapes were mainly due to inadequate physical infrastructure, along with the policy infractions made by staff who would have led those breaches of security,” he clarified.
In 2022, some $5.5 billion was set aside for the Guyana Prison Service, which aided in the modernising of prison infrastructure and penal legislation, restructuring their operations, enhancing human resources, and strengthening financial management systems.
Construction of the Prison Headquarters and Command Centre is scheduled to be completed this year.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn noted that every segment of the disciplined services is under transition, which requires professional service and encapsulates adherence to human rights.
In the case of infrastructure, the Prison Service is being re-envisioned in a way that is sustainable, suitable for the country’s conditions, and financially feasible.
“We’ve moved from the position where we’re not spending enormous sums of money and bringing North American styles of lockups here, which under environment conditions here, we’re discovering, can’t work, and which are not suited for this condition. At the prices which they come we can never afford it, but we have taken our own resorts in Lusignan in building out a prison complex in a way that is sustainable. We have to make it work.”
A further $2.2 billion of the Guyana Prisons Services’ $5.5 billion budget is allocated in Budget 2023 to advance prisons being constructed at Mazaruni and Lusignan, and to commence work for the reconstruction of New Amsterdam Prison.
The Government’s Overall Reform and Modernisation Programme for the Guyana Prison Service targets the transformation of the Prison Service from a penal to a correctional service, and promotes an environment wherein custodial safety is assured, and inmates are rehabilitated and successfully reintegrated into society.