By Delicia Janneire | January 13, 2025
The Guyana Prison Service has outlined plans for 2025 with a focus on reducing recidivism through enhanced rehabilitation efforts.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, shared that, out of a prison population of 2,032, 69 are women, and 157 individuals are repeat offenders.
In response to these figures, the Ministry will place greater emphasis on up-skilling offenders through technical and vocational training programs, including the Fresh Start Programme.
The initiative is designed to equip individuals with the skills needed to reintegrate into society successfully, and a target has been set to ensure more offenders are rehabilitated before their release.
The program will involve rewarding offenders for participating in rehabilitation activities, providing them with a “full kit” upon release to help them start work independently or with lawful partners.
Minister Benn also highlighted the goal of achieving at least 20 successful rehabilitations per month as an initial target.
In addition to rehabilitation efforts, Minister Benn provided updates on ongoing infrastructure developments within the prison system.
These include the completion of the new Prison headquarters at Lusignan, ongoing work at Mazaruni Prison, and the anticipated completion of new facilities at New Amsterdam Prison by the end of the year.
The New Amsterdam facility, in particular, is being revamped due to previous fire risks.
The current prison population also includes 49 Venezuelan nationals incarcerated for serious crimes such as murder and robbery.