Dear Editor,

PRISON overcrowding leads to increased violent behaviour by inmates, and this requires urgent attention by the authorities.The inability to provide necessary medical care and other essential services, and the practise of degrading behaviours, like requiring prisoners to sleep on the floor, must be addressed not only at the Camp Street Prison, but at all other prison locations.

The current state of the prison exposes prisoners to dangerous environmental conditions, like extreme heat or cold, contaminated food, and a lack of basic sanitation. Deplorable prison conditions manufacture hardened criminals.

In regard to earlier reports about prisoners rioting because their drugs and cell phones were taken away, it’s simple. Most, if not all, contraband get into prisons through the guards and other personnel that work there. It’s time we have a larger and better prison built away from Georgetown, because having the prison here is a huge security risk for the residents living around the facility.
Yours respectfully,
ORIN PHILLIPS