In the wake of the fire that claimed the lives of 17 prisoners at the Camp Street jail on March 3, the government has named visiting committees for all the penitentiaries.
The committees have been appointed with effect from March 7, 2016 for a period of one year, according to the March 19 edition of the Official Gazette.
The Georgetown Prison Visiting Committee is chaired by Deoram Timram who is a pastor and head teacher. The other members are Nicola Trotman who is a manager/social activist, Devanand Tika who is a pastor, Thakoor Seeraj who is a pandit at the West Demerara Mandir, Allison Mohamed who is a social activist/administrator and Meresia Greene who will function as secretary and is a research officer in the Ministry of Public Security.
The March 3, fire has raised questions about what interventions had been made by the former committee as it relates to the grievances of convicts and those on remand.
The Lusignan Prison Visiting Committee is chaired by Rabindra K Chand and comprises Marvyn Smith who is Youth Ministries Director at the Guyana Seventh Day Adventist, Latchmin Punalall who is a religious and social activist, Joy Marcus who is an activist at Red Thread, Deodatt Tillack who is a member of the Inter Religious Organisation and Steffi Wilson who will function as secretary and is a research officer at the Ministry of Public Security.
The Timehri Prison Visiting Committee is chaired by businessman Ayube Mohamed. It comprises Reverend Raphael Massiah, Head of the First Assembly of God Church; Sherlanda Daniels, community activist; Odetta Fogenay, youth activist/administrator; Jaya Singh-Backreedy, attorney at law and Breeanka West who will serve as secretary and is the confidential secretary, Ministry of Public Security.
The Mazaruni Prison Visiting Committee is chaired by Justice of the Peace, Samuel Dasraj. The members are Elton McRae, rights activist; Elvis Seeram, businessman; Adam Lynch, miner/former foreign service officer; Charles Greaves, businessman and Guyana Football Federation Executive and Patsy Douglas, a sanitary inspector at the Bartica Hospital who will function as secretary.
The New Amsterdam Prison Committee will be chaired by Karen de Souza, women’s rights activist/administrator, Red Thread. The members are Alex Foster, Community Development Administrator; Donna Matoo, councillor of the Region Six council; Indranauth Persaud, Manager, Kissoon Group Inc, Region Six; Lindon Jones, social activist and businessman; and Kim Fyte of the New Amsterdam Hospital who will function as secretary.
The notice was signed by Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan.
