…families hail move, more expected to be out

By Navindra Seoraj and Sherah Alleyne

Twenty-two inmates who were held at the Camp Street Prison before it was set on fire on Sunday were on Monday released on bail when magistrates conducted hearings at the Lusignan Prison, East Coast Demerara.
The move is part of efforts to create space in the prison system here that has been beset by overcrowding. A number of displaced prisoners joined Lusignan inmates on Sunday night but due to the overcrowding at the building, persons were placed in a pasture within the perimeter of the prison.
In a bid to reduce the burden, Commander of “C” Division, Calvin Brutus confirmed that Magistrates were dispatched to the Cecil Kilkenny Prison Officers’ Training School, where a temporary court was set up. Magistrates, Peter Hughes, Zamilla Ally-Seepaul, Leron Daly, Allan Wilson, Rabindranauth Singh and Alisha George were among staffers of the Supreme Court, who undertook the proceedings.
Guyana Chronicle understands that among the inmates who were granted bail are persons who were remanded on charges of embezzlement; obtaining false document; uttering false information; threatening language; larceny; fraud; perjury, damage to property; smoking illegal substances or in possession of improvised smoking utensils; being in possession of cannabis below 50g; possession of cocaine below 25g and dangerous driving. Some were remanded while others were granted bail but could not pay the amount. Those who could not meet their bail sent self-bail. There was also a review of bail for persons who were charged for possession of cannabis from 51g to 1 kilogram, possession of cocaine 26g to 1killogram. However, conditions will be applied to bail granted to inmates that are charged for unlawful wounding and carnal knowledge.

Bail money
Magistrates will either review or refuse bail for persons who were charged for robberies, break and enter; larceny; possession of above one kilogram of narcotics and possession of firearms and ammunition. Upon hearing the news of this, families of the men who were on remand at the prison, arrived with money to bail their relatives.

Some persons came from as far as Berbice to make use of the opportunity that was granted to their relatives who are incarcerated. “I barely scrape this lil money to get my brother and father out…they just get place in deh for possession of cannabis,” said an elated person who had hopes of her family being released.
Persons were however disgruntled because officers barricaded the area so that persons could not get to the compound of the prison. The crowd of persons quickly increased, as family members took the opportunity to take food, water and clothing for their relatives. While some were sure that their relatives were in the facility, others were uncertain about the whereabouts of theirs.
“My son was in the camp street prison and since that thing happen I aint get no call, I aint get no word of where they keeping him…I want to know where my child is!” shouted a concerned parent. It was confirmed that 22 persons have so far received bail but many others are yet to stand trial, said a reliable source from the Guyana Police Force.

Off to Mazaruni
Meanwhile, authorities confirmed that a number of high-profile criminals were transported from the Lusignan prison to the Mazaruni, Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and the New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) prisons.
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on Sunday night had said he was mulling several extraordinary measures to reduce the Camp Street Prison population, one of which is an early release of non-violent, well-behaved prisoners. Ramjattan was at the time responding to questions about the occupancy level of the Camp Street Prison in the light of Sunday’s fire which left hundreds of prisoners displaced. “It has to do with a lot of prisoners who are serving time, three years for possession. I have the statistics and a lot of them are there for possession of narcotics and trafficking of narcotics and all of that and they have served some time and they are of good behaviour,” he told reporters.
The minister added: “There is what is called a good behaviour, an early release date and a late release date, when you are going to serve [per se] a five-year term… If you are of good behaviour, you can get some remissions from me. I can give you as minister and the authority.”
This move, he said, stemmed from the recently held Commission of Inquiry into the prisons which recommended that the number of persons within the system on remand be reduced drastically, something that they have been trying to do. “We spent approximately $60M, had a night court shift for some time period after speaking to Mr. Carl Singh, then Chancellor and the top echelons of the Judicial Service Commission and that was done.”
He noted that this, coupled with earlier trial dates for non-violent offences, has not reduced the remand limit of the Georgetown community, noting that close to 600 of the nearly 1200 fall within this bracket. “We’ve had some of them who couldn’t pay their bail and who when the bail was granted, they didn’t have cash, so that also accumulated that high amount of persons there, in a prison that was not made for 1,100 persons.”