Dear Editor,
I WRITE this letter in the capacity of a coordinator of ACDA-RESCU — a group whose funds come from itself and from its friends. This group has carried out an information interaction on substance abuse, and wishes to target young non-smokers and drinkers.This letter is, however, not about RESCU, but rather reflects on substances on its outreach agenda.

The hydra that was callously allowed to grow — which inevitably exploded in the recent prison break that cost 17 lives and has affected so many others, with damage of mind and spirit that cannot be ascertained at this point — must be explored in the interest of clinically apportioning blame and not confining examination to the prison break exclusively.

In the first instance, this country (seems to have) endured its Dark Age under the PPP, when any immorality was (supposedly) officially possible. Nothing was (apparently) forbidden, every form of corruption was (apparently) pervasive; and ‘the dog’ in the parable: drunk with greed, grasping at the reflective possession in its jaws and being foolishly willing to surrender the volume of this nation to wily wolves from abroad, is a relevant metaphor.

This (I believe) sums up the corrupted fraternity that so damaged the management of the people, including the prisons; and this management was (apparently) met by the then state with even greater indifference. No law, legal or moral, was (apparently) seen fit to be upheld at any level, as long as loyalty to the cult of the cup was affirmed.

It cannot be disputed that the captured audience of the prisons was seen by some prison officials as a cash crop to supplement their meagre salaries through the sale of drugs, both marijuana and cocaine, to prisoners. Prisoners were caught with drugs, so were prison warders. It’s not recent that the Prison Service has been seen by decision makers as not a serious profession, whose officers must be trained as correctional officers instead of been perceived as low grade guards; so what does and did the self-esteem of the average prison warder consist of?

I had an uncle who worked on the accounts of the Prisons under a one-time Prison Director. On a visit to his office in the Brickdam station compound, he was grumbling about how much the expenditure to feed the volume of prisoners was; he said that it must have included the prison staff and their families. Against my warnings, he submitted his findings; started drinking heavily, was dismissed, and deteriorated towards his death.

A retired prison warder friend of mine explained to me that during his service at Mazaruni, when prisoners could not get marijuana to smoke, they reacted terribly and had to be placed in cells.

The prison in Georgetown is a facility of mainly addicts. Everyone who has paid attention to marijuana and cocaine is aware of its dangers; and when coupled with the added tensions of: (i) Overcrowding, (ii) Filthy conditions, (iii) Impossible lengthy periods before trial [and the usual food problems], what can be expected from this mind crushing demolition cocktail?

The PPP apparently did not think it wise -– after the Baby Arthur incident in Buxton in 1994 — to follow the immediate advice of citizens to address the rising drug problem in Guyana. A drug education policy was (apparently) never enacted, because the PPP had mistakenly seen the problem as an Afro-Guyanese problem. The fantasy follies mystique for substance usage was allowed to grow unchecked, and today, our population of young alcoholics is embarrassing.

To date, small official groups and private ones like RESCU are struggling to grasp our children away from the marijuana and pill sellers especially. They are the new targets –- school children and young sportsmen and women.

Recently, an official from a juvenile cricket team at Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara complained to me that a colleague of mine was, through the arts, trying to sell his young cricketers ganja. This area of education has to be intensified; it’s gotten out of control with the locally grown Frankenstein of marijuana — grown in weeks rather than months, on fertilisers and pesticides to meet quick market demand — reaching our young population. The police should be allowed the means and funds to document the amount of violent crimes committed by persons affected by mind-altering substances, and have it published. The impact of drug abuse on children whose mothers and fathers are addicts should also be documented and published. That should be an assignment for the Ministry of Social Protection.

This is the social background against which the growing prison population stands. If this prison upheaval is to be the last incident of its kind, the social collapse (allegedly) engineered by the PPP has to be addressed at all levels. And those engaged with the official responsibility to counter this scourge must have their social needs facilitated; do not take them for granted.

The current inquiry into the prison disturbances needs to be extended to every conceivable area to complete a worthwhile historical document that justifies the money expended on its undertaking, so that the public can forever reflect upon it without prejudice.

In closing, it would be more productive to avoid the committee socialites and usual orthodox formulas in the selection of persons to constructively interact and affect the prison agenda in its present abnormal state.
BARRINGTON BRAITHWAITE
ACDA-RESCU