Prison violence drops to 2% at Mazaruni as new segregation systems take effect

Prison authorities are reporting a significant decline in inmate-on-inmate violence at the Mazaruni Prison in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), where a series of targeted infrastructure upgrades and operational changes have allowed for more effective classification and segregation of prisoners.
Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, Roddy Denhard, revealed that the violence rate at the facility now stands at just two per cent, an improvement that he attributes to expanded capacity and better housing arrangements. Denhard made the disclosure during a recent panel discussion on the Guyana Prison Service’s Prisons in Focus programme.

“When it comes to capacity, we are now in a better position to execute our duty, that is to say, classification and segregation of inmates,” Denhardt stated. “We’re now in a better position to do that, and that by itself brings a significant impact in the context of prison-to-prison violence. We’re not having that at my facility. It is down to two per cent as we speak.”
The reduction in violence follows the completion and opening of a new block at the Mazaruni Prison, which can now accommodate an additional 250 inmates. The expansion has eased overcrowding and given officers greater flexibility in managing high-risk or vulnerable inmates.
The ability to separate inmates based on behavioural history, risk factors, and programme involvement has long been a security goal of the Guyana Prison Service. Denhard said the facility’s layout and upgraded features are now helping to make that possible.
“These new facilities are designed with correctional in mind,” he noted. “The concept of correctional is within the design of these new facilities, so we’re having better conditions under which the inmate will have to go through certain trainings on a daily basis.”
He added that the added classroom space and technical training opportunities are playing a role in the behavioural transformation of inmates as well.
The training programmes include skills such as welding, plumbing, electrical installation, and academic preparation. “As we speak, there are several inmates preparing for CXC,” Denhardt confirmed. “We have CXC classes, and that by itself puts that individual in a better position on his return to society because he’s now marketable.”
This multi-pronged approach, improved housing, structured daily programmes, and targeted education are part of a wider institutional shift within the Guyana Prison Service as it continues efforts to move from a punitive to a correctional model.
Across the country, several other prisons are also undergoing upgrades, though Mazaruni has become the first major facility to publicly report a quantifiable reduction in violence since the reforms began.
At Lusignan Prison, Senior of Prisons, Deoraj Gyandat, said six new buildings now accommodate more than 1200 inmates in safer and more humane conditions. But he acknowledged that managing security in large, complex environments still requires close coordination.
“Security is what we do. That’s our business,” Gyandat said. “What happens is that our location is very complex… The amount of prisoners that we have, it therefore means the amount of persons that are coming to visit their relatives is much larger than most of the prisons.”
The prison also hosts virtual court proceedings, and construction is currently underway on a dedicated in-house virtual court building to reduce the need to transport inmates.
At New Amsterdam Prison, where over 10 separate infrastructure projects are ongoing, including a male kitchen, officer quarters, and a new infirmary, officials are also noting a cultural shift among inmates and staff.
Mazaruni stands out for now as the most measurable success story when it comes to reducing inmate violence through segregation and rehabilitation. Denhard believes that as the prison service continues to build capacity, more facilities will follow a similar path.
“The infrastructure gave us that capacity to undertake that challenge in preparing that individual for society,” he said.