IN November 2009, the United Nations (UN), by resolution, dedicated 18th July “Nelson Mandela International Day.” This day, which honours his birthday, calls on citizens and governments around the world to engage in some activity consistent with what he stood for. The year’s theme is “Take action! Inspire change.”

Known for devoting his life to the service of humanity as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa, any aspect of his life’s work should it be practised is bound to bring about positive change. Friends or foes, supporters of the ideology of the West, East or Non-aligned, his ability to break down barriers and stand resolutely for what he believed in earned him the respect of all.

Mandela did not only create history, but he helped to shape it, bending the arc of justice to the marginalised, deprived, discriminated against and downtrodden. In every exercise and success in struggles and public life, it requires the strength and tenacity of a leader who is determined to bring about change. His challenge to the white, racist system of apartheid led to 27 years behind bars, but his resoluteness and struggle not only bore fruits for South Africa, but the world at large.

Here in Guyana, successive PNC Governments, under whose period Mandela was incarcerated, took action, locally and internationally, to topple the apartheid system and free Mandela, even at times when such action was questioned and received criticisms from within. Anything that furthers the legacy of Mandela, given the active role the Government of Guyana played in his and Southern African liberation, there should be no hesitation to continue his work for change.

In December 2015, two years after his demise, the UN General Assembly decided to extend the scope of the International Day to also be utilised in order to promote humane conditions of imprisonment, to raise awareness about prisoners being a continuous part of society and to value the work of prison staff as a social service of particular importance.

It is instructive this year as the Day was being marked, that Guyana was experiencing one of its most tumultuous periods in our prison system. Two Sundays ago, the overcrowded Camp Street prison was set ablaze by the inmates, who not only overpowered the prison guards, killed one and injured others, but their riotous acts saw the destruction of prison properties, though the loss is yet to be quantified and estimated, may very well be in the ball park of billions.

It is no secret that Guyana’s prison system is less than what is desired by international standards. It follows that such would adversely impact the conditions of the prisoners’ lives and those under which the prison employees are expected to work. Taking action requires recognition to address the necessity to change the system from punitive to rehabilitative.

Prisoners are foremost human beings, though engaged in unlawful acts and deserving of the period of incarceration, such should not condemn them to a life of failure or pariah status. Rehabilitative justice creates opportunities for second chance through development and/or acquiring of skills and reformed behaviours.

Humanity also requires physical living conditions conforming to international standards on prisoners’ rights. Cruel, inhumane and degrading conditions are considered unrelated within modern prison systems. There continues to be international crusades against violence, overcrowding, sexual abuse, and other conditions that pose grave risks to prisoners’ health and safety. Mistreatment based on race, sex, gender identity, or disability has too been decried.

Of his own experience, Mandela noted that outside of inhumane conditions and mistreatment of prisoners, the racial discrimination he fought against on the outside followed him in the inside. He recounted that he and other African (Black) prisoners were given shorts to wear, while Ahmed Kathrada, the only Asian among the group of African National Congress leaders who arrived on Robben Island together, received long trousers. According to him, Africans also had a worse diet than Asian or mixed inmates.

This is a lesson for us as Guyanese still dealing with mistrust and inequality sowed over centuries, but which require determined efforts to uproot and change. And where it is recognised, like Mandela “racism is a blight on the human conscience. The idea that any people can be inferior to another, to the point where those who consider themselves superior define and treat the rest as inferior, denies the humanity even of those who elevate themselves to the status of gods,” things could change for the better.

Taking action on prison reform cannot come without attention being paid to the prison employees being equipped with the requisite skills, remuneration and tools, in an appropriate environment to perform. Where the UN has decided to focus attention to improving conditions of the prison system as fitting homage to Mandela’s life’s work, Guyana must too proceed on this journey.