Dear Editor:
What is happening at the Lusignan Prison? This penal institution is supposed to be a place of detention, discipline, correction and rehabilitation where prisoners are kept out of trouble, but it seems that it has become a hotbed for criminal activity, especially smuggling.
On July 8, a man escaped after attempting to smuggle cigarettes and marijuana in a pair of sneakers into the Lusignan Prison. Earlier that same day, prison officers found a black bag with marijuana, lighters and other items in a drain next to the prison’s pig pen.
Early this month, another smuggler attempted to throw a bag of contraband items over the prison walls, including 1002 grams of narcotics, a large quantity of tobacco leaves, four cell phones without SIM cards, one charger, one earpiece and 33 packets of Bristol cigarettes.
Last month, a Lusignan prisoner was caught with knife and cutlass. Also in June, a search of the prison turned up 31 improvised weapon, cell-phones and chargers, SIM cards, memory cards, phone cards, metal pipes, wood, marijuana, cigarettes plus a tattoo machine and ink.
Recently, I wrote a letter to the media about smuggling in Guyana, but inmates at Lusignan Prison and New Amsterdam Prison have mastered this criminal activity to such an extent that they are proudly displaying their smuggled goods in posts on social media.
Something is seriously wrong. How in heaven’s name are prisoners getting their hands on drugs, cell phones, digital tablets, alcohol, cigarettes, weapons and even a tattoo machine? We have to upgrade and reinforce our prisons and stop this nonsense now.
I commend the alert police officers who last month intercepted a smuggler and seized cannabis, cigarettes, phones and a host of other prohibited items. But how these items are getting to the prisoners time and time again?
We cannot escape from the possibility that there is a system of collusion in the Lusignan Prison and other penal institutions. There has to be collusion among the smugglers, the prison workers and the prisoners.
The Director of Prisons, Gladwin Samuels, on more than one occasion, in relation to other jails, had stated his concerns that prison wardens were facilitating the entry of smuggled items into the prisons.
In April, Mr. Samuels reported that large numbers of prohibited items were being found in prisons, despite high security levels. A case that comes to mind is that of the prison warder caught trying to smuggle phones, chargers, marijuana and more into the Mazaruni Prison.
Why? It is because the penalties for smuggling prohibited items into the prisons are not severe enough. Smugglers do not hesitate to take the risk because the penalties are soft, the risk of being caught is low and the profit margins are high. It’s as simple as that.
There is only one solution. The penalties must be so severe that as soon as the idea to smuggle contraband into prison pops into a person’s head, that smuggler, prison worker or inmate will think, think again and then decide not to take the chance.
I also suggest that guards should be regularly rotated to different locations in the prison system to prevent the development of any ‘unholy alliances’ with smugglers and prisoners.
The Lusignan Prison seems to be a primary hotbed for smuggling, but the same procedures should be put in place at the other prisons as well because this problem is not confined to just one facility.
Roshan Khan Snr., Former Commissioner |
Dear Editor:
Article 127(1) of the Constitution provides for the President to make appointments to the offices of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice, with the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition.
Presidents and Leaders of the Opposition have been unable to agree on the selection of Chancellors of the Judiciary and Chief Justices over the last 13 years.
Two members of the Caribbean Court of Justice have recently criticized Guyana for placing pressure on the independence of senior members of the Judiciary by having them sit for several years in posts in which there is no security of tenure. Honourable Justices Sir Dennis Byron and Adrian Saunders have criticized the trend over the last 13 years whereby members of the Judiciary have not been substantively appointed, but have sat as ‘Acting’ justices for several years. This has been described by Justice Saunders as a “significant stain” on the Rule of Law (Ongoing lack of substantive Chancellor, CJ ‘significant stain’ on rule of law: Stabroek News, May 26, 2018.)
The current constitutional processes of selection have been ineffectual. A 13-year period of ‘Acting’ Chancellors and Chief Justices is wholly unacceptable in a democratic society, which endeavours to uphold the principles of the Rule of Law, Separation of Powers and Independence of the Judiciary.
Constitutional reform in Guyana has been long overdue and is now urgent and imperative. A revised process of selection of Chancellor of the Judiciary and Chief Justice is recommended. The process of selection should be independent and transparent. The Constitution should be amended to provide for selection of candidates by an Independent Selection Commission.
Colin Bobb-Semple, Lecturer in Law,
School of Law and Criminology,
University of West London |
Dear Editor:
Why is Berbice being so severely discriminated against?
Our national government seems comfortable with building, maintaining and subsidizing the operation of a new Demerara River Bridge (reportedly, in addition to the existing Demerara River Bridge); commuters pay the paltry sum of $100 for a car to use the bridge while the same commuter, who pays the same taxes to the Government, has to pay virtually twenty times more to cross the Berbice River Bridge… and now there are moves afoot to add insult to injury by a substantial increase in the fees to cross the Berbice Bridge.
Is it not time for our ‘national government’ to simply assume full Ownership, Control and Management of the Berbice River Bridge and so relieve us Berbicians, who are the main users of the bridge, the heavy burden of yet another discriminatory charge to commute nationally, especially as most critical ‘national/civil services’ are located in the city of Georgetown?
Please, Mr President & Cabinet, do consider some equitable treatment for us Berbicians!
Nowrang Persaud, Berbician |