– Knocks Mazaruni prison for weak posture

THE acting Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, has issued a call to all prison warders and officers to desist from trafficking contraband in the prisons, while asking those who are guilty to understand the consequences as the law will take its course.

In a statement to the media on Monday, the prison director noted that getting rid of contraband in prison could not be a fight by a few and there was need for collective efforts.
“The well-established syndicates may think that they are safe and secure but they cannot be allowed to continue. We will continue our searches and those found to be colluding in trafficking contraband will have to answer to the law. We cannot compromise. While efforts are being made to improve our physical structures and improve the use of technology, for now, our reliance is on the human factor,” Samuels said.

Using the old adage: “Moon a run til day ketch um” and “every day bucket a guh a well wan day e batum suh lef,” the prison director urged the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) staff not to allow the integrity of the institution, to be sullied for a few dollars more.

Adding, that the dangers of trafficking contraband in the prison environment also put the perpetrators and warders at risk, Samuels said. “Prison officers should not be putting their fellow officers at risk. What about our motto: ‘Together in Service?’ Trafficking in contraband at all locations is a matter of grave concern, but at the Mazaruni Prison, which is a maximum security prison it is worst because of the extent of the collusion that is needed for many contraband items to get into the prison.”

He said the prison’s motto: “Together We Serve” is one in which officers swore to uphold and which is widely repeated during the annual anniversary where the celebrations of the high-risk job is observed.

Noting that over the past few weeks, despite regular searches, prison wardens kept unearthing various forms of contraband including cellular phones, marijuana and local wine along with other illegalities, the prison director said, this should be cause for concern for each and every one since the security of the prison, and by extension the security of the nation is at risk.

Make no mistake about it our security is at risk when we allow these items in. Taking into account the quantity of these prohibited items and the locations where some of the items are discovered, it stretches the imagination that these items got into the prison only [by] being trafficked by prisoners using their bodies to conceal same,” Samuels said.
He continued: “As prison officers working in a service dedicated to correction and rehabilitation, we are tasked with the responsibility to make offenders better citizens.”
The Director noted that the GPS was tasked with creating an environment where the focus on rehabilitation is done with passion.

“We are tasked with creating an environment where the people under our charge can respect us, respect our office, and see us as role models for whom they can become. If we support them and their families in contravening the laws of the prison, we are not helping them; we are in fact condoning the very activities that caused them to be in prison in the first place; we are telling them it is ok to be lawless,” he said.

He explained that such actions on behalf of the warders only mold inmates to continue a life of crime and failure. Worse yet, he said, it was that the prison service was showing inmates that they were no better. The trade of contraband, while it may seem profitable initially, is bad for the prison environment.

“It is said that once you have comprised yourself by becoming a trafficker, you are not allowed to stop even if you want to stop. I say to you, you have the power to do anything. Therefore, do something good. Do what is right,” Samuels said.

Further, he noted, “I do believe that while many prison officers are not directly involved in trafficking of contraband, they were aware of others who were. However, when you know your fellow officers are breaking the law and you remain silent, you are as guilty as they are.”