A TOTAL of 172 inmates from the New Amsterdam and Mazaruni prisons have graduated, after completing various training programmes aimed at preparing them for re-integration into society.

The areas of training were in electrical insulation, carpentry, joinery, welding, masonry, plumbing, upholstery, painting, culinary arts, horticulture, women empowerment and knitting and embroidery.

Officer-in-Charge of the New Amsterdam location, Senior Superintendent of Prisons, Kofi David, told the graduating group that the idea was to give inmates practical, valuable skills so they can secure employment after their release – making it far less likely that they would return to a life of crime.

“We want you to recognise that you have the ability to have a productive life, despite the circumstances,” Mr. David said.

Meanwhile, officer-in-charge of the Mazaruni prison, Superintendent of Prisons, David Shepherd, expressed similar sentiments.

Additionally, officer-in-charge of Prisons’ Welfare and Corrections, Marielle Bristol-Grant, disclosed that the courses were designed to give inmates a skill and at the same time to facilitate their ‘convalescence’ into society.

Further, Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot, said the Prison Service has an obligation to provide prisoners with the necessary skills.

Elliot further stated that the prison directorate remains confident that, as the prison infrastructure continues to be developed, more prisoners will benefit from such rehabilitative training.
Such, he said, was a commitment by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Prison Service to rehabilitate 1500 inmates for 2023.

The Government has adopted a policy of prisoners’ reform, which is done through the provision of training opportunities, allowing inmates to acquire basic income-generating skills and improve their literacy levels while serving their sentences