— order non-violent offenders to community service, sociologist urges

SOCIOLOGIST Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth has pointed out that too many persons are being incarcerated for non-violent offences and suggested the need for change in dispensation of justice when handling these offenders.

She said criminal sentences could involve one or more different elements. These include incarceration (prison, jail), probation, restitution (victim compensation), and community service.

Sheerattan-Bisnauth pointed out that instead of sentencing non-violent offenders to prison, magistrates can sentence them to community service, contending that this will go a far way in avoiding overcrowding of the prison.

This, she said, should be part of the menu of measures in prison reform.

According to her, real reform will also entail officials asking critical questions about the purpose of incarceration and the relative costs and benefits of the current system.

It all comes down to the need for proper management, she said, and stressed the need for rehabilitation to be an integral role of the prison system.

“Prisoners must be rehabilitated in such a way that they want to live a more positive life, contributing to the development of themselves and society,” she said.

The sociologist noted that under all circumstances, when humans are housed in a controlled environment such as a prison, they would always find or study of a way to free themselves.

On this score, she stressed the need for rehabilitation, stressing that it will help in keeping them focussed and to build a positive personal image.

Adding to Sheerattan-Bisnauth, criminologist Wendell Jeffery said with about three-quarters of Guyana’s prison population addicted to some form of drug, significant effort needs to be made to detoxify these inmates before they are discharged from prison.

The addiction usually starts with alcohol and tobacco and later lead to marijuana, crack cocaine and other illegal drugs.

He said care and treatment is also important in preventing self-harm and suicide among drug-addicted prisoners, as well as helping them in getting over their addiction.

This, with proper rehabilitation, he said, will go a far way in ensuring some form of rehabilitation of prisoners.

“Even if a guy goes into jail for 40 years or 25 years, he will come back out, so what persons like me do, is go into the prisons and show them the bigger picture and why they need to get involved in academics, why they should get vocational skills and make that cognitive connect for them and this motivates and rehabilitate these prisoners for a meaningful life in society,” Jeffrey said.

True prison reform, he said must extend beyond the prison walls and into the communities that receive convicts as reformed individuals.

Prominent Attorney Nigel Hughes had told this publication that prison reform should not be isolated from broader criminal justice reform, but stressed that these must be guided by data to ensure proper analyses.

NON-CUSTODIAL SANCTIONS
According to Hughes, there is need for non-custodial sanctions and measures which reflect a fundamental change in the approach to crime, offenders and their place in society.

He said attention should move away from punishment and isolation to restorative justice and re-integration.

Hughes said this when accompanied by adequate support, offenders are less likely to return to a life of crime. Ex-inmate Howard Jeffrey said not having a pay cheque is part of the problem which results in recidivism.

He said finding a job is hard these days, “but finding one when you have a criminal record can be all but impossible,” adding that “I made dumb mistakes when I was younger that led to my conviction, but there’s a lot more to me than just that.”

Introduction and implementation of non-custodial sanctions and measures, Hughes said, is a key element in prison reform.

Hughes also contends that there is need for a historical review on the modern philosophy of criminal punishments, along with a review of mandatory sentencing, imprisonment for soft drugs of small amounts and the mixing of hardened prisoners with minor offenders.

In addition, he noted that reliable data is vital in understanding the issue of incarceration and the criminal justice system. He made these observations in wake of two prison riots in as many years, the last one of which resulted in the burning down of Camp Street Prison. These riots are due to overcrowding, among a number of other factors.

Former Magistrate, Omeyana Hamilton-Dummett, had contended that the current state of the overpopulated prison system is part of the systemic weaknesses facing the criminal justice system in Guyana.

She too stress the need for abolition of mandatory sentences for “soft drugs” and/or small amounts, pointing out that the focus in these instances should be on counselling and rehabilitation of the addict/offender.

The result of incarceration for soft drugs and minor offences is the criminalisation of persons, who otherwise (with intervention) could have been contributing members of the society.

“Incarceration in and of itself for serious offences, isn’t altogether negative, because society has to be protected from damaging criminality, example, murderers and perpetrators of robbery under arms etc,” Hamilton- Dummett contended.