Political will, not CoI, needed for prison reform – Ramkarran

… calls for more modern, proactive approaches to reduce prison numbers

With a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the prison system done only last year, as well as a number of reports and plans for reform completed over the years, it is the political will to enact prison reform that is needed from the Government, instead of another expensive CoI.

This is according to former House Speaker and veteran political activist, Ralph Ramkarran, commenting on the Government’s decision to launch another CoI in wake of the recent fire that gutted the Camp Street Prison and preceded two of the worst jail breaks in recent memory.
According to Ramkarran, there is no shortage of information on what the Government needs to do to address overcrowding, repeatedly cited as a problem within the prisons. He stressed that a further study would only repeat recommendations that numerous reports have produced.
“In 2001, a comprehensive report by a British team on prison reform was made. It found overcrowding, violations of human rights, inadequate alternatives to incarceration, poor conditions for prisoners and staff, and minimal scope for rehabilitation…”
The former Speaker of the National Assembly noted that, in the same year, the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) had produced a 10-year Strategic Development Plan for 2001-2011. This came after reports, workshops, retreats and visits were done.
“In 2002, the Carter Center presented a report calling for a review of the criminal justice system, including the system of imprisonment. Also, in 2002, the Kennard Commission of Inquiry into the February 2002 jailbreak concluded that it would not have occurred if the prisoners had been transferred to Mazaruni,” Ramkarran reminded.
“In 2004, the Report of the Disciplined Services Commission chaired by Justice Ian Chang made 28 recommendations for improvements to the prisons: increase staff, increasing the capacity of Mazaruni to deal with dangerous prisoners, and other (things),” he pointed out.
Ramkarran also pointed to a 68-page report made in 2009 by a team led by Lloyd Nickram, a Management Specialist in the Public Service Ministry. According to him, the report made much of the same recommendations as the previous reports, and identified the main cause of chronic overcrowding as the large number of remands and imprisonment for petty crimes.
Added to this body of reports, Ramkarran noted, the Georgetown Prison Visiting Committee reports to the Minister responsible for Public Security on an annual basis. He observed that the crux of their reports would include reiterations of overcrowding and other problems.
According to Ramkarran, there is also the Patterson Commission, which the coalition Government launched after the fire last year that claimed the lives of 17 prisoners. That CoI also made recommendations which have only been partially implemented, Ramkarran pointed out.
“There are approximately 2,000 prisoners in the five facilities: in Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Mazaruni, Lusignan and Timehri. Of these, 35 per cent is on remand awaiting trial. The Georgetown Prison at Camp Street was designed to accommodate 600 prisoners, but held in the vicinity of 1,000,” he said.
“Violent incidents or escapes have occurred in Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Mazaruni in the past. There was always a great fear among those responsible for security that Camp Street could explode at any time. The problem of overcrowding was well known,” he argued.

More creative policies
According to Ramkarran, the short-term tasks that could have brought immediate relief would have been the substantial reduction of prisoner population by modern, non-custodial sentencing laws and policies for minor offences.
He also noted the need for a more creative policy with regard to bail, and an annual review by the Director of Public Prosecutions of every case of a prisoner awaiting trial for more than two years.
“None of this was ever done,” he said. “The Government did not appoint a permanent multi-agency task force on prison reform to drive the process of reform, without which it has been, and will continue to, languish in bureaucratic inertia,” Ramkarran declared.
“The most important factor, however, is political will and governmental parsimony. At the best of times, the prison and the judiciary are the two step sisters who are starved when funds become scarce. They do not bring in votes at election time, so they receive no political priority,” the Senior Counsel stated.
The fire which razed the Camp Street Prison occurred on July 9, resulting in over 1000 prisoners being displaced. While some were moved to Mazaruni or granted early release or bail, a contingent had remained at Lusignan under stringent circumstances.
That was until a second jail-break occurred at the Lusignan holding area. And while the authorities have managed to capture all but four of the 17 prisoners who were on the run, corrective measures prompted the Government to seek more than $500M in supplemental funds from the National Assembly last week.