$1.2B being spent on new prison at Lusignan
Director of Prisons (ag) Nicklon Elliot speaking to the media at the construction site  (Elvin Croker photo)
Director of Prisons (ag) Nicklon Elliot speaking to the media at the construction site (Elvin Croker photo)

TO improve the operations of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) and to address overcrowding issues, government has allotted some $1.2 billion for the construction of a new, modern detention facility at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.

On Wednesday, Director of Prisons (ag), Nicklon Elliot, toured the construction site. During the walkabout he told members of the media that three new dormitory buildings are being constructed in the compound and they will have the capacity to house over 1,000 prisoners.
Construction is currently at 25 per cent and has a February 2022 completion date.

The three new buildings under construction at the Lusignan Prison (Elvin Croker photo)

Over 800 prisoners are currently at the prison facility which has been overrun and crowded since a fire flattened the Camp Street Prison in 2017.
The situation at Lusignan was worsened in early 2020 after a fire destroyed one of the facility’s main buildings which housed an administrative office, kitchen and facilities for between 185 and 190 prisoners.

Authorities had established makeshift holding bays in the prison compound but the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has exacerbated the situation, causing prisoners to become uneasy and, most recently, leading to an unrest which resulted in the death of two prisoners and injury to five others.

“These three facilities are being constructed to accommodate over 1,000 prisoners who will be housed in a very comfortable way because we all know the situation at the holding bay and the Lusignan facility after the burning of those facilities at Georgetown and Lusignan and this facility here would be able to accommodate prisoners in a very comfortable way,” Elliott stated.

MODERN
Three of the new buildings will have modern features such as a fire suppression system that will allow for better control in the event of a fire.
Elliott stated that the Guyana Prison Service in its conceptualization of the new buildings took into consideration the devastation that occurred at the Camp Street and Lusignan Prisons as a result of the fires. He said the prison administration has put strategic systems in place to combat any unexpected fires.

Ongoing works on one of the buildings (Elvin Croker photo)

He highlighted that the plans include access to adequate sources of water to address any need that may arise.
In further speaking about the modernisation plans, the Prison Director disclosed that prisoners will enjoy better accommodation in the new prison.
“Prisoners will be living in the dormitory cell setting where they will be housed with beds and mattresses unlike the holding facility where that is not happening at the moment. So, the facility will be one which is modern [and] in keeping with those specifications that require prisoners to be housed within the prison.”

REINTEGRATION
As part of the mandate of the GPS, training sessions are provided to prisoners in an effort to prepare them for re-integration into society when they are released. Elliott noted that heavy consideration was given to these programmes as prisoners heavily rely on them. It is for this reason that a trade school is also being constructed in the compound of the new facility.

At the GPS’s 38th Thanksgiving Anniversary Church Service, Elliot shared that some 300 prisoners benefited from training in literacy and numeracy, behaviour modification, vocational skills and art and craft as part of the prison service’s re-integration programme.

He had also disclosed that the prison service is working to roll out a conflict and anger management programme by next week at the Lusignan Holding Bay, in an effort to reduce the cases of conflict among prisoners.

“A school is expected to be built here where prisoners will be exposed to further education in terms of all the training activities they would have missed out on while they were in prison and we would have converted the holding facility into a trade shop where prisoners would be further exposed to the various training programmes,” Elliott stated.

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