On the heels of the anniversary of the devastating Camp Street Prison fire and riot, Prison Director Gladwin Samuels on Friday confirmed that the re-construction details of the Georgetown penitentiary have been finalised.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Samuels said efforts are being made for the speedy reconstruction of the facility.
“…the method that we’re using for the re-construction of the Camp Street [Prison] for the accommodation of prisoners will be done using three parts. These will be done with the use of pre-fabricated cells… We have recently finalised all of the construction details for those cells. So, steel cells should commence… will be delivered to Guyana within 2018,” he explained.
According to the Prison Director, upon reconstruction, the facility will accommodate
An aerial view of the burnt out Camp Street Prison
a total of 60 new steel cells, which is expected to house some 180 “hard-code criminals”.
“Sixty cells have [to be] constructed. Twenty cells will be allotted to each part as the divisions are called, and each cell will accommodate three prisoners so that the facility they will be constructing initially will accommodate 180 prisoners. Those prisoners, based on our segregation, we will be looking at the high-risk prisoners to be relocated there,” he asserted.
Samuels further revealed that prison officials are in the process of finding suitable contractors to complete the rehabilitation works.
“All things being equal, we should be going to tender at the end of this month, we should be going to tender at the end of this month in order to have those works allocated to the suitable contractors in order to have those works executed,” he noted. Meanwhile, he also mentioned that the expansion of the Mazaruni Prison is moving full steam ahead.
Some $1.5 billion was awarded in the 2018 Budget for the expansion and rehabilitation of the prison infrastructure.
The Camp Street Prison was completely flattened by fire on July 9 which left one prison officer dead and several others injured.
During the fire, four convicts – Uree Varswyck, also called “Malcolm Gordon”; Mark Royden Durant, also called “Royden Williams” and “Smallie”; Cobena Stephens, also known as “OJ”; and Paul Goriah escaped.
On March 3, 2016, 17 prisoners died at the same prison after a fire was set during hours of unrest at the major prison facility.
