Smuggling contraband into prison: “Corrupt” officers, visitors to face full brunt of the law – Prison Director warns

In a bid to end the continued flow of contraband into the prisons, Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot said on Sunday that additional security measures would be employed within the confines of each prison location.
Elliot alluded to the recent attempts by members of the public to either throw contraband items over the prisons’ fence or place such items around the prisons’ perimeter.

The Prison Head also indicated that persons’ movement near the prison locations would be restricted and, in some cases, a “stop-and-search” exercise would be conducted.
Director Elliot also indicated that the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) would also be erecting signs at strategic points outside the prisons, warning the public to desist from such acts and the consequences attached to them.
Meanwhile, Elliot warned that there would be no let-up in bringing down corrupt prison officers, family members and friends of inmates who are bent on breaking the law.
“Public safety is a key component of the prison system, and all efforts will be made to achieve such a task,” the Prison Head said.
On New Year’s Day 2024, two separate attempts to smuggle drugs into Guyana’s prisons were thwarted by vigilant law enforcement officers.
In Georgetown’s Camp Street penitentiary, Pradesh Ballkishun, a resident of Coldigen, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was apprehended by Police stationed at Brickdam.

Ballkishun had visited the prison to drop off personal items for an inmate; however, during the routine check of the items, prison staff uncovered a concealed stash of marijuana in a bowl of soup. The marijuana was found wrapped in small plastics and hidden inside the dumpling.
At the New Amsterdam Prison, a 29-year-old man from Corentyne, Berbice, Safraaz Hossein, attempted to smuggle two grams of marijuana into the facility.
Hossein, who was visiting the jailhouse to deliver personal items for his brother, raised suspicions among the jail staff owing to his peculiar behaviour. A subsequent strip search revealed the contraband hidden in his underwear.

Hossein was promptly arrested.
On December 12, 2023, a female prison officer attached to the New Amsterdam Prison was remanded to the same facility after allegedly attempting to smuggle narcotics into the penitentiary.
Angelica Cameron, 32, was arraigned at the New Amsterdam Court on two counts of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
It is alleged that on December 9, at the New Amsterdam Prison, she had in her possession 137 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
The mother of two was also charged with being in possession of 152 grams of cannabis, also on December 9 at Penitentiary Walk, New Amsterdam, for the purpose of trafficking.
Cameron pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Earlier in 2023, a prison officer, Sarafane Pitt, was charged and granted $100,000 bail after pleading not guilty to a charge of trafficking narcotics into the prison.
Pitt, 29, of Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) was accused of attempting to smuggle 604 grams of cannabis into the NA prison.
In September 2023, a 21-year-old woman who attempted to sneak 106 grams of marijuana into the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Teana Anderson, a security guard of C Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, pleaded guilty to trafficking in narcotics before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.
In August 2023, a man and a woman were taken into custody after some 249 grams of cannabis, intended to be delivered to two inmates, was found in their possession.
The individuals had visited the correctional facility to provide items for two different inmates.