Punishment without rehab leads to hopelessness
The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) recently held a week-long celebration in observation of its 36th Anniversary with great emphasis being placed on the rehabilitation of the 1917 prisoners now in the system.
This year’s activity was held under the theme “Changing Lives: One Inmate at a time” which seeks to highlight efforts to change existing behaviour, provide job training and provide a support mechanism to increase the chances of success for rehabilitation.
Director of Prisons (ag) Gladwin Samuels during his address at an anniversary service which was held to commence the week’s celebration said that over the past years, the prison administration has embarked on “aggressive” programmes that seek to bridge the gaps between crime, punishment and rehabilitation.
“Crime, punishment and rehabilitation, unfortunately are basic ingredients found in every society from the moment man endeavoured to organize and live communally. That recipe has bedeviled social scientists, psychiatrists and counselors for centuries,” Samuels said.
He noted that it is the view of the GPS that efforts at punishment without rehabilitation condemn an individual to an existence without hope. “An existence without hope will invariably lead to recidivism and a life of crime that will further jeopardize our individual and collective security,” Samuels added.
Several criminology studies, according to Samuels have shown that harsher sentences do not necessarily act as deterrents,