Rohee cautions against being sympathetic to prisoners

… “we are inheritors of that” – Ramjattan

By Devina Samaroo

Cautioning that nothing good could be achieved once criminals feel empowered, former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee on Monday expressed concerns that the David Granger-led Administration may be too sympathetic towards prisoners.

Following the three-day deadly rioting at the overcrowded Camp Street Prisons, much focus has been placed on management of the facility and the conditions prisoners are exposed to.
Lots of developments have occurred since the unrest, including government ministers negotiating with prisoners and the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to listen to the views of prisoners with the objective of determining what exactly triggered the mayhem; and to make recommendations to prevent a repeat of the situation.
Prior to these developments, President David Granger had pardoned 52 prisoners who were convicted of “minor, nonviolent” offences, and he has every intention of continuing this tradition.
However, Rohee is worried that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition is being too sympathetic towards the prisoners, which he suspects could be the reason for many of the problems that are ongoing at the penitentiary, including the absenteeism of practically 80 per cent of prison wardens.
“Why do you think this large amount of officers reported sick? It’s because it appeared to them, and perception is very important in a prison, that the Administration is more sympathetic to the prisoners…” he presumed.
Rohee pointed out that prisoners are not senseless, and will capitalise on any opportunity that works to their advantage.
“One has to be careful that you don’t send the wrong signal to prisoners. If you only give the prisoners (the impression) that you are 100 per cent sympathetic to them, and you set up an internal mechanism to negotiate with prisoners… so when civilians introduce themselves into that situation and begin negotiating with prisoners and then we have at the same time the press carrying reports from the CoI that all appear to be sympathetic to the prisoners, and all these things are filtering their way into the prison; and persons are reading them, they get the feeling that, you know, these people are sympathetic to us and we are on the right track,” the politician explained.
In this regard Rohee chided the move by government to dispatch two senior cabinet members (Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and State Minister Joseph Harmon) to facilitate discussion with the prisoners as a tradeoff for them to stop rioting.
“That visit between those two men were not helpful. If they want to negotiate, they should do so through the directorate of the prisons, speak to the prison officers and get their views or through the visiting communities,” he noted.
Rohee conceded that management of the prison system is a complicated task, especially in light of the many challenges that arise.
Rohee explained that as Home Affairs Minister, there was a solid human resource structure which would seek to address problems as they arise within the prison service.
He said he would meet with the Director of Prison weekly to discuss the number of challenges faced during the management of the system.
Additionally, he said there are sitting committees comprised of civilians who would visit the prisons to host statutory meetings and subsequently report to the Home Affairs Ministry their observations and what they felt were required for rectification.
He noted too that there were annual meetings with all of the visiting committees to formulate general plans for all prison locations as well as solutions for peculiar problems.
Regardless of the firm human resource structure, Rohee pointed out that there was still a shortage of human resources (trained prison officers) – a problem the current administration has since pledged to address.
Rohee posited that not long before the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) departed executive office, Cabinet approved the establishment of a recruitment and training board to hire individuals to work within the prison service.
“The individuals recruited were interviewed by a board of civilians, that was no longer the hierarchy of the prison,” he stated.
Another problem, he explained, was striking an ethnic balance in the prison service.
“Up to this day, it remains a challenge. How it is to be address is left to the Guyana Prison Service (GPS). I don’t think it could be done through political interference; the policy was already laid down based on what the Disciplined Services Commission Report said, and this was approved in the National Assembly as well,” he stated.
Other challenges were in relation to the special watch prisoners who are the most dangerous criminals along with the overcrowding.
One of the measures to address the overcrowding was the effective functioning of a Parole Board which would oversee all applications by prisoners for parole – which only applied to prisoners who completed one third of their sentences.
Remission varying from three months to one year was another measure in place to overcome overcrowding.
Placement on bail and community services sentencing were also implemented.
Generally, Rohee posited that the previous administration was on the right track and he urged the current government to pick up from where itleft off.
The prison reform plan outlined sweeping measures to be taken to address the number of issues affecting the efficient management of the prison service.
In essence, the Timehri Prison and Lusignan Prison would house first-offenders.
Also, the Timehri Prison was earmarked to become an industrial hub where the inmates would be engaged in activities such as masonry; and the Lusignan Prison would have placed much emphasis on educational reform.
Both the New Amsterdam Prison and the Mazaruni Prison were identified to become self-sufficient.
The New Amsterdam Prison was to be used mainly for poultry production, whereas the Mazaruni Prison would have focused on cash-crops and livestock.

Ramjattan responds
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan stated that Rohee should be the last person to talk about what needs to be done to effect prison reform, given that his administration’s 23 years of governance placed the prison service in the state it is in today.
“That same Rohee, had we not gone there, would have said ‘you know, they’re not taking a hands-on approach. And when you do take the hands-on approach, this is how he comes. Look, those fellas are what placed us in this almost disastrous, catastrophic situation. Their absolute recklessness in how they managed the prisons have caused this and we are inheritors of that…” Ramjattan stated.