— CoI report recommends

By Shauna Jemmott

POLICE, magistrates and judges must administer charges on ‘men for grooming’, instead of ‘girls for wandering’, the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Georgetown Prison riots has recommended.The CoI into prison conditions and the death of 17 remand prisoners was prepared by Chairman of the Commission, Justice James Patterson, and Commissioners Dale Erskine and Merle Mendonca, and was recently submitted to President David Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency.

The report advises Government to consider vulnerable prison populations — including juveniles, women and indigenous peoples — as it works towards improving the infrastructural and social services within the Guyana Prison Service.

“Police, magistrates and judges must charge men for grooming, rather than charge girls for wandering…. Incarceration of juveniles must be (strictly) according to the principle of last resort, (and) the Holding Centre in Sophia should be replaced by arrangements which are conducive to restoring good conduct, health and safety of children in accordance with the Rights of the Child,” the report stated.

Instead of placing non-violent women offenders in the same jail with violent offenders, the report recommended, a halfway house should be established, which provides “rehabilitation in the form of a process of re-establishing self-confidence and problem-solving skills, with regular access to their children”.

The report has also recommended establishment of a women’s remand prison within the Lusignan Prison Environment in Demerara, instead of in New Amsterdam, Berbice; and that judges and magistrates “respect incarceration of women as a last resort measure”.

In cases in which Guyana’s indigenous peoples are charged with indictable offences, the report recommends that they be remanded in facilities within their respective regions, instead of at the Georgetown Prisons; while summary matters in hinterland communities should be resolved in one session.

The commissioners also recommended that the Ministry of Public Health should adopt a more pro-active approach to the health of the general prison population, especially those who are victims of HIV, diabetes, and mental illnesses.

Calls are, meanwhile, being made for Government to make compulsory rehabilitation programmes in the penal system and undertake a major publicity campaign to promote its acceptance of the purposes of prisons.

“Rehabilitation programmes in the penal system should be compulsory; subject to measurement and evaluation; linked to external qualifying processes; and provide the basis and momentum for enjoyment of a range of incentives and privileges,” the report recommended.

It also recommended that access to mobile phones, computers and other privileges be incentive-based.