…as gov’t rolls out $195M justice sector reform project

INMATES without representation have been one of the contributing factors to prison overcrowding and the government is about to tackle this through the ambitious Justice Sector Reform Project, which will provide legal aid to some 71per cent of that population.

Guyana’s justice sector will receive the much-needed attention it deserves with the approval of a $195M Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded pilot project, aimed at reaching persons who have been unrepresented over the years. It will ensure the legal representation of litigants across the country; address the provision of legal aid to 71 per cent of the prison population presently without; strengthen institutions and restorative justice and facilitate training and public awareness.

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams presented the five-year programme in the National Assembly Committee of Supply, during the consideration the budget estimates for his ministry on Monday.
Digging into the details of the project, Minister Williams said that some $10.4M will aid in the design and implementation of the restorative judgement programme which seeks to train the judiciary, magistracy, police prosecutors, probation services and other stakeholders. “It is estimated almost 12,000 officers will be trained. This essentially involves bringing victims and perpetrators together to look at options other than the usual adversarial options that you have,” Minister Williams remarked.

Meanwhile, $8.3M has been allocated to the office set up for the restorative judgement programme, which includes the purchasing of furniture and other equipment. Added to this, a $12.5M case management system will be developed to connect relevant agencies involved in facilitating a matter to the court system, with $45.7M to facilitate the system itself.

Judges and magistrates will also be trained in the use of alternative to pre-trial liberty with the sum of $13.1M. “This project seeks to carry out various training activities to promote the effective use of alternative sentencing, so that we would avoid the overcrowding of the prisons,” the Legal Affairs Minister began.
“We’ve had a consultant who has been reviewing the Summary Jurisdiction Procedure Act, to weed out archaic and other laws that have been there since the days of slavery. That would also deal with minor offences that people are detained and are in custody for, and are clogging up the prison system.”

He added that the custodial sentencing for the possession of small amounts of marijuana is also a matter to be addressed under the funding.
Regarding alternative sentencing, $26.5M will go towards the recruitment of two attorneys-at-law and four paralegals for their legal representation. They will work to request alternative punishments for selected non-violent offenders on remand. Additionally, $5.2M will go towards training programmes to increase representation skills; $19.3M to the strengthening of probation services; $20.8M to capacity development of probation officers.

A public awareness and sensitisation programme will also commence with $12.5M funding, and aimed at educating the people of Guyana about restorative practices and how they can benefit.
An additional $20.4M will be go towards support of the Law Reform Commission in 2019, which will also address the Mental Health Act; Substance Abuse and Psychotropic Substances Act and the need for the Bail Act. Responding to Opposition Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall on when these Acts can be expected in the House of Assembly, Williams said:

“We have as system where we do consultations on bills, so it’s not an overnight process; it’s a process we send to all stakeholders; we have consultations and other engagements and then the to-and-fro until eventually you get a bill that comes to this Honorable House.”
Further questioned by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Priya Manickchand on whether the project will incorporate the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic, Minister Williams affirmed the possibility of the same.

The Legal Aid Clinic provides free or subsidised legal advice and representation to people who cannot afford to pay for an attorney.
Williams stated that the fact is that the project will also explore the establishment of a national legal aid framework, to ensure access to legal representation to all.

“I suppose as we develop this pilot project, we can probably look and examine how we can mesh this…in fact we paid a consultant to do exactly that. To map all of the legal aid that exists in Guyana so that at the end of the funding of the programme, what we do with what we have created,” he said.

With the development of several capital towns in Guyana by President David Granger along with the project, Minister Williams believes that these and other magisterial districts will have greater access to legal aid in future.
The Justice Sector Programme is to be administered by the Legal Affairs Ministry by a project manager to be stationed in Hadfield Street, Georgetown.