THE Guyana Prison Service (GPS) yesterday launched its Standing Orders at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) Boardroom in Brickdam, Georgetown; after which Director of Prisons, Mr. Welton Trotz, presented Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee with a copy of the Standing Orders.

Rohee congratulated the Standing Orders Committee and the various Boards for their input in compiling the Standing Orders.

He expressed gratitude to former Prisons Director, Cecil Kilkenny for heading the Committee and said the Standing Orders are a national document for the GPS. Accordingly, he said, the Government agrees with the consultative process through which the Standing Orders were derived.

Rohee said the document came at a time when the GPS is undergoing modernisation and a Strategic Management Department has been established and is being manned by civilians.

He exhorted GPS officers to use the Standing Orders as a compass to guide them in their work.

Head of the Standing Orders Committee, Retired Director of Prisons, Mr. Cecil Kilkenny, said the group managed to develop the drafts after some time, and the Orders were reviewed and approved. As such, 50 Standing Orders were compiled.

In 2013, the Home Affairs Ministry established a Standing Orders Committee to develop Standing Orders for the GPS. Work was completed in 2014, and a total of 50 Standing Orders were developed, which will guide officers and ranks on their conduct in the execution of their duties.

These Orders have, in fact, laid down the rules and operational procedures by which the GPS is governed.

Director of Prisons, Mr. Welton Trotz, has said he had received a letter from Minister Rohee in 2012, instructing that the Standing Orders be developed, and after much hard work, this request came to fruition. Trotz credited this achievement to those involved, including the Committee. He, however, urged that senior ranks should ensure that the Standing Orders are enforced as he appealed to Location Commanders present at the occasion to enact the Standing Orders at the various prisons across the country. He further asked that they enlighten junior ranks under their command.

Trotz, moreover, said that members of the GPS should use the Standing Orders as a guide on how they should discharge their duties, and he said that senior officers must make it their duty to ensure this information is filtered down to others in their command.

He explained that the Standing Orders are the way forward for the GPS, but he said the Orders have not been ‘set in stone’, and can therefore be corrected and changed when necessary.

It was also learnt that the Training, Sentence Management, Recruitment, Parole and Agriculture Development Boards that were established by the Home Affairs Ministry are all chaired by civilian volunteers. These boards held their statutory meetings, made visits to prison locations, and generally made a tremendous contribution to the work of the GPS, in keeping with their mandates.

The sum of $298M was allocated to the GPS for its Capital Programme for 2014. Of that sum, $212M were spent on building projects, including construction of the Brick Prison; Trade Shops; and the Lusignan Prison, which has been identified as a correctional facility, particularly for young offenders.

Some $39M has been spent on land and water transport, and $47M have been spent on agricultural and other equipment.

The GPS has renamed its spanking new $26.3M Prison Officers Training School at Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara in Mr. Cecil Kilkenny’s honour. This facility was officially opened on October 6, 2012.

(By Michel Outridge)