Prison service moving to expand correctional p
The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) is working to expand its self-enhancement programmes to give convicts a second chance to make something of themselves during their incarceration and to prepare them for life after prison, according to Prisons Director (ag) Gladwin Samuels.
In addition to ongoing skills training programmes for both male and female prisoners, efforts are being made to give prisoners equal access to the Caribbean Secondary Entrance Certificate (CSEC) examinations. The GPS is also focusing on anger management and other types of behavioural modification.
Prisoners at the facilities at New Amsterdam, Mazaruni, Lusignan and Timehri are all exposed to some sort of academic or vocational skills training (currently nothing is being offered at the Georgetown Prison, following a devastating fire in July) and Samuels said that for this year hundreds have benefitted.
Apart from 85 who were undergoing behavioural modification programmes, there 1,209 who benefitted from an ILearn programme, 180 from vocational skills training, 96 from numeracy and/or literacy programmes, 17 from arts and crafts training and 269 from outdoor work, according to statistics Samuels made available.
He noted that skills training is offered only to those prisoners who are sentenced to lengthy prison terms. He explained that upon conviction, the prisoners are interviewed by the Sentencing Management Unit at their respective prison and it would work out a plan of action for the duration of the sentence.
“If you put someone with a six months on one of those programmes, it don’t really work out,” he said, while explaining that the programmes run for a specific period and it makes no sense to enroll an inmate whose sentence will end before the programme concludes. He added that those prisoners are placed in short programmes, depending on the offence they are incarcerated for.
“The reality of it is because we have a serious issue with space, we are unable to target as much persons as we would like, but what we are doing, we are now trying to partner with external agencies… we are trying to bring New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) on board to have them come into the prison to do skills training… bringing their training programmes into the prison,” he said.
Noting that this initiative could become a reality by September next year, he said that because it will be a programme specifically tailored for prisoners, they might be able to start it outside of the normal semester. He added that an assessment is being done based on the institute’s entry requirements. He noted that in undertaking the initiative several things have to be taken into consideration, including the fact that selected prisoners must be serving a sentence that is at least four years long, which would be the duration of the programme.
Exposure
Among the skills training programmes being offered is joinery. This, Samuels said, is conducted by an external specialist at the Timehri and Lusignan prisons and the training is done by an external specialist. He noted that because of a lack of space, a lot of the exposure to skills is done on the outside. “We do not have adequate space for persons to practice, so once they learn the basics on the outside we then assign them to the work parties, where they are able to develop on their skills and that is why you have prisoners …working in outdoor parties,” he explained.
Male prisoners are also exposed to farming, livestock rearing, and landscaping, while female prisoners are being trained in cosmetology and embroidery.
Male prisoners at Mazaruni, Lusignan and New Amsterdam prisons are engaged in crop and livestock farming. Chickens and ducks are reared at the New Amsterdam priso while ducks, chickens, sheep and pigs a reared at the Lusignan prison. Cows, shee pigs are reared at the Mazaruni prison, whe chickens will soon be reared.
At the moment, inmates at the Timeh prison are engaged in vegetable farming. was explained that given the prison’s clo proximity to the Cheddi Jagan Internation Airport, the livestock rearing had to be di continued.
With regards to the Georgetown Priso Samuels said the prison fire which destroye the welding and carpentry shops there has si nificantly affected those training programme He stated though that additional training too will be bought to help expand the skills trai ing programmes.
According to Samuels, members of th prison staff are also sent to the E Burrowes School of Arts as well as Carneg School of Home Economics to learn art an culinary skills, respectively, and once the complete their programmes they would retu to the prison and offer training to inmates.
Samuels also observed that given ever thing that has been happening in the priso system, acquiring trainers has become “mo complicated.” He said that a detailed asses ment of these persons has to be conducte before they are allowed into the prison sy tem.
Samuels noted that the Mazaruni prison the only facility that presently offers CSE classes but he assured that plans are afoot