— for ex-prisoners to make full reform, says prisons director
FOR some prisoners, especially those who have spent years or decades of their lives locked up, freedom is filled with a mixture of overwhelming joy and anxiety.
As such, many want to start over in a positive manner, but do not know how to start, since they may need somewhere to live and work.
They need counselling but have limited resources. Some prisoners are released with only the clothes on their backs.

But sometimes successful re-entry can begin with a simple act of kindness towards a former inmate, with just positive advice or an offering to assist with getting them to their destination.
In an interview with several inmates who requested anonymity because of stigma and victimisation in their communities, it was collectively underscored that as human beings, all they were looking for was an opportunity to develop their lives and assist their families.
“When I was released last year, it felt like I was a rat in a cage, and walking away from the prison gate made me feel like a hundred pounds of weight was lifted off of my body,” said Dexter.

In discussions with these men, it was noted that the major hurdle they all faced was employment opportunities.
“I know many people who go back in jail, it was because they could not find a job to just survive and assist their families, but I rather starve and be homeless and survive somehow than go back in jail,” said Jason, who had served a 10-year sentence.
Another inmate said: “When people hear you went to jail is like they don’t even want to know anything else; they just blacklist you. Is only some labourer work or skill work that is available, but when that is done, we still have to find money. So, when we apply for other jobs, like working at a business or company, no one wants to give you a chance to prove you’re a better person.”

Statistics from the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) indicate that in 2017 and 2018, there were 590 cases of recidivism. As of June, 2019, the number of cases that were recorded was 201.
According to Acting Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels in an interview with this publication, reducing recidivism is about changing the behaviour of people who have committed crimes in the past.

OPPORTUNITY
He said these persons can only become successful upon their reintegration in society if they get an opportunity to be gainfully employed.
“The success of our rehabilitation programmes, which is paid for by taxpayers money, can only be truly measured when ex-offenders are given a chance to demonstrate what they have leant, and to demonstrate behaviour change in society. If we fail to embrace that situation and persons continue to be stigmatised, they will eventually reoffend and end up back in prison,” Samuels noted.
Many inmates, he said, work very hard at reforming themselves, but because of a lack of support outside of prison, and being gainfully occupied on a job, he said, their minds may go back to the life of being incarcerated.

The prison director said the disadvantage that the prisons are facing is a limitation of space to target every individual in the reformation process.
“Because there are so many people in prison, there is a limited space, so even though you would like to have one-on-one activities with everyone during their reformation process, it is difficult to do that,” Samuels noted.
He also touched on the preference of some repeat offenders to return to prison because of the easy life of three square meals a day, the limited work life and a roof over their heads.
“I do agree that some run from responsibilities out there in the free world. However, at the beginning of the new school term, some send out their assets that they have earned while working in prison for their children. Very few view prison life as a luxury,” Samuels said, adding:
“We are all humans, and are prone to mistakes. Being in prison should be a learning experience; being a free person should be better than incarceration. Now that we have access to reformation, it is safer to desist from crimes.”

INHOSPITABLE ENVIRONMENT
Meanwhile, Psychologist Wil Campbell said a multiplicity of sometimes complex factors leads to recidivism; firstly, the prison environment does not lend itself to rehabilitation.
Instead, he said inmates develop what researchers refer to as a “prison mentality” and this is an altered mindset that persons who are incarcerated often subconsciously develop as a survival mechanism.
The problem with “prison mentality”, the psychologist, said is that the new behaviour learned in prison often endures post-release, and ex-offenders do not have the skills to discontinue those behaviours.

“Prison mentality also sometimes includes psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, all of which could lead to drug abuse and criminal behaviours,” Campbell noted.
Another factor that contributes to recidivism, he said, is the fact that punishment in and of itself, does not alter behaviour.
“As a society, we over rely on incarceration as a crime-fighting tool but when we imprison a criminal-minded person and fail to teach that person a new lifestyle, then we will eventually release a criminal-minded person who possibly now is compounded with a prison mentality and the effects that come with it,” the psychologist said.
He noted that even some decent people who happen to find themselves on the wrong side of the law are corrupted by their prison experience.

NEW WORLD
Another challenge ex-offenders face is that they often return to a world outside, that is different from the one they left, the psychologist said, noting that friends and family may have moved on, resources may have been occupied or used up by others and in some cases, the world is even technologically different.
“This is compounded by the fact that they have a hard time finding anyone who is willing to hire them because of their criminal record. The rejections, frustrations and inability to provide for themselves often lead to conflicts and sometimes criminal acts which land them back in prison,” the psychologist explained.

In offering solutions, the psychologist said prisons should be converted into “rehabilitation centres,” he said, pointing out that “The Guyana Prison Service is currently doing a great job of transforming the system from a penal to corrections.”
Secondly, he said there should be comprehensive ex-offender programmes to help ex-convicts reintegrate successfully into society.
And thirdly, he said society need to collectively change their attitudes to ex-offenders. “Most would rather not return to prison but, when they feel the rejection of what feels like an entire society, many feel they have no choice.”
Research suggests that employment is often cited as a critical turning point in the lives of former prisoners since basic models of human behaviour unambiguously predict that individuals will choose to spend less time in illegal activity as the returns to legal activity grow.

A simple comparison of recidivism rates between ex-inmates who work and those who do not indicates a strong positive correlation between unemployment and recidivism.
Meanwhile, the rehabilitation of the prisons in all three counties, particularly the Camp Street Prison commenced in 2019 following the allocation of $35.6 billion to the Ministry of Public Security.

The Public Security Minister said in addition to the rehabilitation of the prison facilities, plans are also in place to make the jails more self-sufficient by improving their ability to produce their own food while offering training for ranks.