Prison Chief sent on leave
The Director of Prisons, Gladwyn Samuels, has been sent on leave. This publication contacted Samuels and he confirmed the development. He told Kaieteur News that he is on vacation. He detailed that he was sent on 132 days accumulated leave. He pointed out that the letter, which he received stated that he is to resume duties after the leave ends.
In his absence, the Deputy Prison Director, Niclon Elliot, will act in his capacity. Samuels has been in charge of the Guyana Prisons for a number of years now. He was appointed as Deputy Prison Director in 2017. He then received another substantive appointment in January of 2020, but this time as Prison Director. Samuels has been on a stormy watch. In 2017, riot broke at the Camp Street Prison where two inmates were wounded and a police officer shot dead.
The prison, which housed at least 1,000 inmates, went up in flames. This setback caused major overcrowding, especially at Lusignan where a significant number of the prisoners were shifted.
A number of prison officers have been fired and charged for smuggling contraband to inmates. Millions were allocated to rehabilitate, upgrade and rebuild the prison facilities. Works started but then they were stalled. Politicians blamed the noconfidence motion and later the fivemonth elections saga.
The COVID-19 pandemic also fell in the mix as one of the reasons why the prison troubles could not be fixed. The prison escapes became frequent as did the unrests. In 2020 alone, there were two major unrests at the Lusignan Prisons. In July, prisoners protested because their goodies were seized. Parts of the prison were set afire. One month later, the country was under a new administration, and unrest broke out again after 120 inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
It was madness again and prison officers were forced to use their weapons to bring things back to a state of normalcy. Two inmates were killed in the process and several others injured.
Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, during a recent press conference sought to shift the blame on poor administration.
However, Samuels continued to single out what he called the root cause of the problem. He explained that with the lack of proper facilities, little resources, fewer staffers, little or no technology, curbing the prison problems will continue to pose a major challenge.
(Kaieteur News)