Strengthened prosecutorial services key to addressing Guyana’s overcrowded prisons
– Court Superintendent Office handed over
– Unemployed youths with law degrees to be hired to support prosecutors
Strengthening of Guyana’s prosecutorial services is seen as critical in addressing overcrowding of the country’s prison system. This will be done through support from the Criminal Justice System (SCJS) programme which is funded by the Inter-American Bank (IDB).
The programme which is being implemented by the Ministry of Legal Affairs saw the handing over of a fully equipped Court Superintendent Office to the Guyana Police Force at Brickdam, Georgetown today.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall delivering the feature address, said that the programme will address overcrowding in the prisons by focusing on two specific problems. These are the over reliance of the criminal justice system on custodial sentences and the overuse of pretrial detention.
It was highlighted by the Attorney General that the country’s prison population significantly surpasses the world’s average with a rate of 264 per 100,000 and an occupancy level of 137.5 percent.
“There is persuasive evidence to suggest that the escalating incidence of incarceration is directly related to the over-reliance of the criminal justice system on incarceration as an effective tool for addressing deviant conduct,” the Minister stated.
The AG added that “although the laws of Guyana provide for a limited range of alternative sentencing options, these measures are scarcely utilised and is compounded further by the incapacity of the criminal justice system to adequately employ those alternative options.”
Strengthening the prosecutorial arm of the state, the Attorney General said will see the enhancement of the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as the Prosecutor’s Office of the Guyana Police Force. This will be done by hiring the dozens of unemployed young people who possess a Bachelor’s of Law Degree.
“I have begun a process of creating a database of these persons and they will be soon contacted to join a new initiative, which will see a collaboration between the Guyana Police Force and the Director of Public Prosecutions, whereby after completing a one year accredited prosecutorial training course, they will be hired as prosecutors and will join Police prosecutors in the Magistrate’s Court, right across the length and breadth of our country,” the Attorney General underscored.
Recognizing that the recruits will need training, the Attorney General said that “discussions have already begun for the implementation of a one-year accredited prosecutorial training programme at the University of Guyana.”
Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Robeson Benn making brief remarks said the intervention is timely as he also recognizes that Guyana has a high incarceration rate. With that, he called on the Guyana Police Force to display a higher level of professionalism in its work.
“At the level of the public, there must continue to be an expectation that prosecutors at the level of the police should not be arbiters outside of the court system itself for the resolution of disputes which should be properly handled in the courts,” Minister Benn underscored.
The Home Affairs Minister said prosecutors of the Guyana Police Force should be earnest advocates for the provision of efficient legal services in the court system.
The Court Superintendent Office and the Chambers of the DPP were also supplied with office equipment, computers, laptops and required law books, among other things.