Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn today said the culture of “beating” and ill-treating prisoners must change, as he addressed the Guyana Prison Service’s Chief Officers Conference.
He said while there has been some progress in changing the culture behind the prison walls, there is a lot more work to be done.
“We can’t be cruel to people in the prison. If we put a man, again I say, in restriction, lock up in a cell by himself, we must give him the same food that the others are getting. No bread and water story, give them the same food, don’t beat them, don’t create situations which move to the point where you got to use force,” the Home Affairs told the prison officers present.
He said a softer approach is needed, one that would allow the Prison Service to better understand prisoners.
“You have a massive opportunity to understand the culture, the behavior, why they did what they did and what opportunity, what resorts there are to help them to be better. It is not simply, having them locked up, treating them badly, cussing them, beating them now and again, allowing them to fight between themselves,” he said.
He also instructed the Prison Officers to provide him with daily reports of any incident in the prison, noting that he should not have to learn about such incidences from outside sources.
The statistics regarding confrontations, escapes, breaches of SOPs by prison officers, and the smuggling of contraband into the prison, should be studied to allow the Prison Service to have a better understanding of the reasons behind such behaviors, and how it could prevent such occurrences, the Home Affairs Minister said.
“What is it that we are challenged with? What is the statistics telling us? How many escapes that occurred? Why they occurred? What were the results of the escapes? I don’t want to go back to the traumatizing one which resulted in deaths at Saxacalli. As the Prison Director said, we are not following the SOPs. Why are they not being followed? What support needs to be done? Is it a manpower problem? What are those problems?” Minister Benn questioned.
Benn said the Prison Service must examined many of the loopholes in the system and seriously address issues of smuggling. He made reference to recent incidents of Prison Officers being charged for smuggling contraband items, including drugs, into the Prisons.
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