WORKS on the $1.2 billion modern detention facility at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, are moving apace with the Ministry of Home Affairs disclosing that the project is expected to be completed by August 2022.

According to a post on the ministry’s Facebook page, the construction of new cell blocks at Lot 1, 2, and 3 are at 85 per cent, 70 per cent, and 65 per cent completion respectively.

The three new dormitory buildings that are being constructed in the compound, were conceptualized as a way to improve the operations of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) and to address overcrowding issues in the local prison system. The facility will have the capacity to house over 1,000 prisoners.

Over 800 prisoners are currently at the current Lusignan 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 unrest that resulted in the death of two prisoners and injury to five others.

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.
Director of Prisons (ag), Nicklon Elliot, during a walkabout of the facility in 2021 had told media 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 had said the prison administration has put strategic systems in place to combat any unexpected fires. He highlighted that the plans included access to adequate sources of water to address any need that may arise.
“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 to prepare them for reintegration 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 benefitted 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, 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.

SECURITY
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, recently opined that the new facility will address any security concerns regarding potential prison breaks.
With several prison escapes throughout 2021, the security mechanisms at some of Guyana’s prisons, including the Lusignan Prison, were often called into disrepute.
Benn had said that the new facility being constructed at Lusignan will be more secure and several issues regarding the prison’s perimeter, towers, and fencing, will be resolved.
While the modern facilities are expected to provide requisite security to prevent prison escapes, Benn reminded that there remains the “human element” and persons who are employed with the Guyana Prison Service must play their roles and learn from precedents.

“There is always the question of the human element in everything we do and, as you go along in a large organisation, sometimes you have incidents which you have to deal with, which you have to learn from, and which you have to take the appropriate measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” the Security Minister had lamented.
“There are still issues of integrity in terms of people who are doing jobs; they are paid for being able to look out and warn and identify when they are issues, but I am very hopeful that we are on the path to improvement,” he added.