70 per cent of Guyanese jail population comprises youths – Erskine

By Tiffany Bowen

The percentage of male juvenile offenders presently imprisoned for serious crimes has increased significantly, compared to the last three years.
This disclosure was confirmed by Prison Director, Dale Erskine during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times International. According to Erskine, Guyana’s prison population is made up of 71.3 per cent of young offenders, who are either serving sentences or are on remand for allegedly committing very grave offences.
This statistic, he pointed out, is worrying, and requires careful scrutiny, both by the prison’s administration and relevant stakeholders.
The director said that while the prison system in collaboration with the government of Guyana has been doing much to address this concern, much more needs to be executed. For that reason, the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) will be embarking on new initiatives to tackle effective reforms, with the aim of getting delinquent youths reintegrated, and becoming meaningful contributors in society.
He said during 2013, the prison administration will move to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Education Ministry, to engage imprisoned youths in basic literacy programmes. Recruitment of qualified counsellors, vigorous men’s groups and religious organizations, are also being looked at to actively engage young people within the prison system.
Although youths in prison are the most difficult set of prisoners to engage in reform programmes, the system, according to the director, will not give up on them.
He said the majority of young offenders did not attain a primary education; hence, their intellectual capacity is most times limited in the aspect of making affirmative decisions.
In addition, the prison administration has already drafted a plan to address behavioural change and skills development.
“We have young prisoners who only know the negative side to life, therefore, we have to not just leave them to their old ways, but sort out ways in which their lives can be influenced for the better, in that when their time is up in prison, they can go back into their respective communities and be productive men”. The director of the prison said too that society also has a huge role to play after a young prisoner has been put back into the outer world.
That aside, the GPS has undertaken an extensive project, whereby all of its prisons are being rehabilitated.
Currently, construction works are being carried out on the barracks at the Camp Street Prison, while an additional capital offence holding facility is being constructed.
This publication was told that the development is intended to properly divide and closely monitor inmates, particularly young prisoners.