![The Officer-in-Charge [OIC] of Lusignan Prison, Deoraj Gyandat](https://caribbeandailyeye.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gyandat.jpg)
The Officer-in-Charge [OIC] of Lusignan Prison, Deoraj Gyandat
Kaieteur News – Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Lusignan Prison Deoraj Gyandat has highlighted that the large number of remand prisoners at the facility has been a major challenge to their rehabilitation programme.
During a Guyana Prison Service (GPS) broadcast on the National Communications Network (NCN) titled “Prison in Focus,” Gyandat explained that the prison service primarily concentrates on convicted prisoners, as their sentences allow for tailored rehabilitation programmes. This structured approach enables the service to effectively frame rehabilitation efforts in accordance with each prisoner’s sentence.
However, he further explained, “… so the larger portions of remand prisoners sometimes, who maybe will be released on bail and so on, on many occasions, you (Prison Service) don’t really get to capture them in your rehabilitation programmes.”
“So it’s better for us (Prison Service) to get the prisoners who are doing a sentence, you know their time, they have a certain time and we can plan according to their sentence,” Gyandat said.
Meanwhile, in relation to training of officers in the area of mental health, the OIC said that ranks from various prison locations are currently undergoing studies in that particular field at the University of Guyana (UG). “…In the area of mental health because we have recognised how important it is because all the locations have their own issues with prisoners, you know mentally challenge inmates,” Gyandat highlighted.
Furthermore, Gyandat noted that ongoing developmental projects at Lusignan Prison have created a more comfortable environment for inmates, given the expanded space and new infrastructures being constructed at the facility. He recalled that about a year and a half ago, a challenge which the Lusignan Prison was faced with was the accommodation of inmates; however, presently inmates are housed in a proper condition.
“We are continuing to build more structures, so that we can have more space to accommodate, not necessarily more prisoners but to have them more comfortably accommodated,” the OIC said during the broadcast.
He continued, “The more a prisoner is comfortable, the more he can be rehabilitated, because if you have to cope with that stress of not having to sleep properly and then in the morning that stressing with you all day, you can’t focus in a classroom, you cannot focus on what is being taught.”
