Behind those guarded walls

“MANY persons in prison who get involved in such riotous behaviour are not necessarily bad people, but the absence of segregation (due to unlimited space) cause persons to have to comply; because if you are deemed as an outsider you can be taken advantage of – you can be beaten; they can do a whole host of things to you; so persons, like it or not, for their safety think it is easy to become compliant with the wrong things instead of trying to be right and having to face the hardship of imprisonment,” were the words of Gladwin Samuels, Chief Prison Officer.

He stated that this situation occurs because the hardcore or seasoned offenders are sometimes mixed with the minor offenders; the un-convicted having to be mixed with the convicted; or those who are on remand for trial. Because of a space problem, people can become much more vulnerable. So again persons just decide that they should get involved, than to be viewed as a snitch and having to face the harsh realities of the prison.

SENTENCE PLANNING UNITS
Samuels said that the Sentence Planning Units at the various locations are tasked with doing an assessment of persons to identify their training needs; several times this is done, but actually being able to place someone in the programme is challenging and that situation has gotten even worse following the destruction of the Camp Street prison.

“At the Camp Street prison, we had a chapel that was being used for various activities, in terms of literacy training and skill training. They were even exposed to religious teaching, which has the potential to calm prisoners; to bring them to a position where they understand that there is a Supreme being. Whether they believe in Jesus Christ; whether it is that they are Muslims, Hindus- whatever it is. Those persons knowing that there is some Supreme power that they can go to, it tends to cause them to behave differently,” he assured.

Samuels stated that he was very concerned that some staff members within the organisation capitalise on the opportunities where prisoners may want to act outside of the law.

“Some persons would want to smoke weed, some persons would want to drink rum and other such misbehaviours. Unfortunately, some persons within the system seem to collude in allowing these items to get to prisoners and that by itself creates more of a security hazardous environment. This is especially so for those prisoners who are compliant and also staff members who are not involved in such activities. Because, like it or not, when a man is drunk he is not going to choose who he will assault and many times it is the innocent who are the persons that suffer.”

MENTALLY CHALLENGED
Samuels said that he strongly believes that the prison is not the place for persons who are mentally challenged and that is ‘off the bat’. However, unfortunately, there are several persons who are in the system and are seriously mentally challenged, while there are others who are on the brink of going overboard.

He added that the prison system is also quite aware of the fact that there are some side-effects associated with persons who use illegal drugs, and what are some of ‘withdrawal syndromes’, some of whom were regular drug users and do not have the resources to maintain the use of such drugs. Many times they are unable to cope with that and also lead to them operating strangely.

TRAINING
Samuels explained that the prison is now in a more ‘fortunate’ position to have the opportunity for some staff members to be exposed to training to deal with vulnerable prisoners; this he says put them in a little better position in terms of being able to identify persons with such traits, but who might not be mad.

“So you can clearly pick it up, what is happening in the life of that individual, once he or she is displaying certain tendencies you are able to put systems in place to have them segregated. But again there is only so much we can do in terms of our ability to segregate – because of space,” he stated.

He said that there is a section at Camp Street that they are able to use for those persons who are definitely unable to be in close proximity to other prisoners because they are seen as being harmful to other prisoners. Other prisoners in retaliation would also harm them so we are forced to find a place to put those who are deemed uncontrollable.

In this situation, Samuels said that the prison authorities have a relationship with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Psychiatric Department, where they do regular visits and keep them on their medication. Therefore, it is not a situation where such prisoners are acting out in an aggressive manner. Ideally, those persons should be in an institution where they can be adequately taken care of, so despite all that the system is doing to help them it is not the right place for such persons, he declared.

BUGGERY IS AN OFFENCE
Prisoners who are HIV positive are not disclosed to the general prison population so as to cause stigma and discrimination, but are encouraged to acquire and adhere to their medication so that their health can be maintained, Samuels stated.

“However, the offence of buggery is still one that is on our law books so that it is not something that is condoned. Therefore, while persons are advised to desist from engaging in such activities, what is also important is that while there is the perception such activities are rampant in the prison, the fact is that a large per cent of the prison population has zero-tolerance to such activities.

There are several prisoners who are against the practice of homosexuality; not only that they are not engaged in the activity, but they do not want it happening in the space that they’re in. So that is a plus for us; despite our over-crowdedness and so forth, many persons guard against being touched inappropriately by other prisoners,” he assured.

JOINT SERVICES COLLABORATION
Samuels stated in general, the prison authorities have an obligation to not only protect the prisoners under their watch but also the nation at large. “We have a responsibility to ensure that this nation is kept safe, unfortunately, all of our staff members may not agree with this policy, thus aiding prisoners in wrong and illegal moves that can cause harm to other prisoners, prison staff, and members of the public as well.

However, he noted that while prisoners have numbers, which they tend to use to their advantage, in Guyana the prisons’ authority also has an excellent collaborative arrangement with the Joint Services, so that the prison is never left alone to confront any adverse situation. He noted that there is absolute danger involved in such deviant behaviour such as access to drugs; to cell phones and the danger cell phones can pose, not only in Guyana but globally.

He stressed however that there are some prison officers who are very committed and dedicated to the job, while others seek to encourage the breaking of the law in varying ways. And, these are some things we need to look at because if persons are entrusted in a position of responsibility and breach, they should be dealt with in a firm manner.