PRISON ranks were encouraged by Director of Prisons Nicklon Elliot on Monday to make the most of the various training and other opportunities available through the service.

The Prison head was giving an address during the quarterly muster and general inspection of officers at the prison headquarters.

Mr. Elliot said the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) has a positive outlook on educating its staff, which is evident with the management structures being devised to continuously encourage officers to capitalise on training opportunities available locally, regionally, or internationally in order to enhance officers’ personal competencies.
This, he said, is the strategic plan of the service, which sees that the human capital is critical to the daily sustainability of safe daily operations; thus, of its eight pillars, “Enhancing Human Resource Management and Development” is in the top three.

In a fitting manner, the management concentrates on the promotion of efficient management of the GPS’s mandate to successfully rehabilitate and reintegrate law offenders by enhancing the human resource capacity within the service.

Mr. Elliot further noted that enhanced training of prison officers is vital in helping the prison service to achieve the rehabilitative aims, which suggests that rehabilitation is strongest among well-trained and experienced officers.

The Prison head also emphasised that enhancing the effectiveness of rehabilitative initiatives can only be achieved by prioritising ongoing and relevant training as a crucial factor in ensuring prisons have a sufficient number of skilled and experienced officers.

He stressed that the prison administration will guarantee the ongoing provision of in-service training courses to uphold and enhance the knowledge and professional capacity of its personnel, both upon commencement and throughout their tenure.

Out of the allocated $5.5 billion for the Prison Service in 2023, a portion of the funds has been earmarked for training over 500 personnel in prison management.
To this day, almost 400 individuals have undergone training in various courses, aligning with the government’s pledge to ensure the GPS is staffed with proficient and qualified officers.