Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 04, 2017 News
A Commissioner of Inquiry (COI) into the fiery deaths of 18 prisoners on March 3, 2016 at the Camp Street prison has described the daily life inside the facility as harsh—with roaches, centipedes, lice and rats living among the inmates.
The COI was ordered by President David Granger and was made available to the media yesterday.
The report found that inmates spend most of their day in spaces which are occupied by three, four and five times more people than they intended to accommodate. “Roaches, centipedes, lice and rats flourish,” the report stated.
The report revealed that men trying in the night to get to the toilet, would step on sleeping prisoners and falling on them, causing fights. As the population increases, internal mobility in the prison decreases.
“A chronically under-strength staff, the majority of whom are females, are outnumbered, rehabilitation activities are suspended and inmates remain locked down,” the report stated.
Information provided by the COI and the Guyana Prison Service showed that sixty percent of the prisoners living in these conditions have not been found guilty of any crimes.
The COI recommended the creation of a high level committee representing all of the agencies with responsibility to the prison system with the purpose of creating and overseeing implementation of a coordinated strategy for reducing and sustaining the prison population to levels compatible with the United Nations Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Offenders.
Custodial staff was recommended to be increased to match the operational and management readiness of the Guyana Prison Service. “The current staffing is a recipe for continuous disturbances and security threats to the community at large.”
Kaieteur News was informed that it was recommended for the capacity of the custodial supervisory staff to be increased in the short term by recruiting retired senior Non Commission Officers from the Guyana Defence Force.
“They must be carefully selected and appropriately trained to perform their new duties in keeping with modern prison philosophy.”
It further recommended for the prison service to adopt a management philosophy that encompasses modern principles of justice, management, training, humane conditions, discipline and use of force.
The prison unrest left 18 prisoners dead and five injured. The deadly fire was started by inmates housed in the Capital Offences section of the prison during the riot. It is believed that the men were burnt to death.
Confirmed dead were Jermaine Otto, Rayon Paddy, Sherwin Trotman, Anthony Primo, Shaka McKenzie, Kirk Clarke, Latchman Partap, Chaitram Dharamdat, Aaron Eastman, Andrew Philander, Randolph Marks, Rohan Teekaran, Hilary Amos, Ashraf Ali, Delroy Williams, Clifton Joseph and Richard Hubbard.
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