IN an effort to ensure the security exercise in and around the Georgetown Prison, members of the Joint Services on Friday participated in a simulation exercise called Stagniser.The area around the Camp Street jail was cordoned off and barriers were set up by ranks from the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Fire Service, and the Guyana Prison Service.

The exercise was staged to have security checks done inside the penitentiary.

On May 14, 2016, a large quantity of dangerous weapons and other illegal items were seized from prisoners at the country’s main prison at Camp Street, Georgetown, less than three months after security was beefed up following a riot which left 17 prisoners dead.

In an early-morning operation, prison authorities, assisted by police and army ranks, raided prison cells and unearthed 173 improvised weapons, two kitchen knives, three screwdrivers, one hacksaw blade, 44 cellphones, a quantity of razor blades, 149 lighters, three garden files, five tattoo machines and a quantity of marijuana.

The Camp Street prison currently holds double the amount of persons it was built to accommodate, and the authorities have tried to ease the overcrowding by transferring prisoners to other locations.