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1,058 in Camp St jail at end of Sept

BY Staff
Published: December 4, 2008 in News 

As of the 30th September 2008, there were 1058 persons incarcerated in the Georgetown Prison, members of the National Assembly were informed yesterday by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.

Of these 1058 persons, 639 of these were prisoners who were awaiting trial in the Magistrate’s or High Court.

Human rights activists have argued consistently that the Camp Street jail is overcrowded as it was built to house around 800.

This information was provided by the Minister in a written response to a question from PNCR-1G MP Deborah Backer. The PNCR-1G MP had asked how many prisoners were inmates of the Georgetown Prison at the end of each month from January to September of this year. Additionally she asked how many of these persons were on remand on these dates.

According to the Minister, the figure at the end of September represents a decrease in prisoners as of the 31st January, 2008. The data provided shows that 1203 persons were incarcerated on this date, which includes 714 persons who were on remand awaiting trial.

The data revealed that at the end of February, March and April there were 1210, 1152 and 1157 prisoners respectively.  For these months 718, 706 and 694 of these prisoners were on remand.

Meanwhile at the end of the months of May, June, July and August 673, 670, 665 and 679 were on remand awaiting trial in either the Magistrate’s or High Court.

During this period from May to August 1099, 1091, 1099 and 1127 persons respectively were inmates at the Georgetown Prisons.

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24 Comments
  1. SandHurst First GUYANA says:
    December 4, 2008 at 6:36 am
    whoa…….thats like a sardine tin!!……………..Are you aware that in the court these days, the magistrate have to write down everything that is said because there is not one single typist to type everything that is being said……so the matters/trials take much longer than expected. Mrs. Backer is a lawyer..why can’t she point out this fact to the Parliament so that something can be done??
    Reply
    • Soldier UNITED STATES says:
      December 4, 2008 at 9:26 am
      This is because all the lawers has something to gain from this…each of the top lawers has about 30 to 40 clients in jail and they are the ones causing the delays, some magistrates are willing to close cases quickly but what these lawers do is to take money from each client from different parts of the country and keep asking magistrates for different dates 1 and 2 months apart and keeping the defendants in prison for long periods…Like for instance these lawers tell clients that a PI has to take 2 years…no law in the country tells you that any PI must take 2 years so this is how thet stretch it out…the figures are showing that more than half are on Remand…
  2. Arnold VENEZUELA says:
    December 4, 2008 at 8:18 am
    Let’s hope that all those thieves robbing people, would be caught and dumped there for the Christmas time!
    Reply
  3. true guyanese UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 9:03 am
    the magistrate’s to be blamed for this as they just remanded people who are on minor/bailable offences…and people who commit serious crimes are being placed on bail….they just don’t want to work or lisen to cases the easy thing to get the job done is to put them on remand….
    Reply
    • Judge UNITED STATES says:
      December 4, 2008 at 2:52 pm
      I am saying that the lawers are responsible and maybe, some magustrates..But weather an offence is minor or bailable or serious..the magistrate will award bail to people who he or she feels will return to answer the charge made against them after the prosecutor has addressed the court…So your pre-trial liberty is based on background checks..let me define bail quickly ( Bail is a recognicance or bond signed by a duly authorised person to ensure the appearance of an accused at an appionted time and place to answer to the charge made against him or her).
  4. BOND 005 CANADA says:
    December 4, 2008 at 9:49 am
    This situation will continue to happen as long as there are ageable ministers who holds these types of portfolio.
    Reply
  5. drumup_change UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 10:36 am
    ……..if this is so then this is source of tuberculosis hitting the city……..tb come about through overcrowding …….can stabroek news investigate tb in the georgetown prison …… so that legal action can be taken against roheeeee…..
    Reply
  6. Charliebrown UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 11:16 am
    The first thing that needs to be done is , to dismantle this 100 year old prison building and build a state of the art prison way out somewhere near Orinduke Falls. A prison that can hold about 5000 or more inmates, then we will start seeing some real changes.Number one the criminals will know that if they commit a crime, they will be away in the jungle, isolated from society, and their families cannot come to the corner and shout out their names to drop off all kinds of drugs and other stuff that get in and no one knows how it got there. Then the lawyers know that they will only be making one trip to speak to their clients, this way cases will be processed faster, we would not have these problems.
    Reply
    • malaika06 UNITED STATES says:
      December 4, 2008 at 4:26 pm
      Yes Charlie Brown, the perennial plaster to the festering sore. Build more jails, fancier jails, sophisticated jails, better jails.

      I think I read somewhere recently that in the US it costs more to incarcerate someone than to put that same individual through college.

      How about building some more schools, properly equipping our security forces and paying them BETTER salaries, among other things?????

  7. paw2180 UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 12:53 pm
    That’s a job opening right there, hire a typist to put on this information on file , so things can go along more smoothly. in this time we live in they don’t have things up to date? pure slackness
    Reply
    • can't wait to b in guyana FRANCE says:
      December 4, 2008 at 2:21 pm
      i agree with u at least the will be a lees percent of jobless people and cases will be look faster
  8. amen-ra UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 1:35 pm
    It’s overcrowding and nothing is going to happen, they will just put more in.
    Reply
  9. stan bishop SAINT LUCIA says:
    December 4, 2008 at 2:08 pm
    THAT’S A THOUSAND PRISONERS TOO MANY.
    Reply
  10. TheAchiever CANADA says:
    December 4, 2008 at 2:23 pm
    What about hiring a few good typists and providing them with lap top computers to record court proceedings. At the end of the day the information can be downloaded CDs. Too simple a solution for Guyana or against some obscure, outdated law?
    Reply
  11. can't wait to b in guyana FRANCE says:
    December 4, 2008 at 2:24 pm
    charlie good point put them in the jungle so there be less option to escape and less visit to them so they wont b family vising often to carryin illict thing for them so the one out there will be dissuavie to go in
    Reply
  12. GT IN Atlanta UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 3:43 pm
    What is the relevant authority doing about this situation ? it seems not only is the prison overcrowed but there is also an increase in unsloved crimes of various nature, now unless something is done to address this issue we will see the same number of criminals on the street as in the prisons if it is not so already. Crime is on the increase, the judicial system is on detoration, so after the data compilation what next ?
    Reply
  13. ONE MINUTE UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 4:58 pm
    Maybe the prison treatment is not as bad as we thought, if it is overcrowded, let’s leave some of the criminal in that situation and hope some good can come from it, at least after the holiday so people can enjoy their Christmas.
    Reply
  14. Dust. UNITED STATES says:
    December 5, 2008 at 1:07 am
    Why is it we can come up with so many brillant ideas and the folks responsible seem to be fine with what’s goin on. Centry old facilities and way of operation still being in use today.I like Charliebrown’s idea. With GT IT’S SLOW BUT SURE. We will get there folks.
    Reply
  15. amen-ra UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 1:32 pm
    in guyana anything goes.
    Reply
  16. LINDENBANNA UNITED STATES says:
    December 4, 2008 at 1:49 pm
    Soldier,,,you are so on target….reminds you of New York doesn’t it,,,prisoners are locked up on the layaway plan, you pay your Lawyer and you are on the court register to appear in a speedy fashion, don’t pay and you get put on layaway.
    Reply

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