Prison reform goes beyond infrastructure development – Min Benn

– calls for cultural shift in rehabilitating prisoners

The government’s efforts to revolutionise the prison system extend beyond developing infrastructure and focus on implementing transformative measures to rehabilitate and reintegrate prisoners into society.

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn made this statement while delivering the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Guyana Prison Service Senior Officers’ Conference 2025 on Thursday, at the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary.

Minister Benn commended the rapid development of Guyana’s prison infrastructure. He highlighted its importance in preventing recidivism while giving inmates a space to focus on rehabilitation.

Before 2020, correctional facilities nationwide were in a dire state with some inmates sleeping on floors and hammocks in conditions considered barely livable.

Major construction efforts are underway at the Mazaruni and Lusignan Prisons to improve the inmates and staff living and working conditions.

Minister Benn noted that real change stems from the government’s approach to prisoner reform and addressing the root causes of crime.

He petitioned for better treatment for prisoners, noting that they should not be beaten and should receive access to education, vocational training and psychological support.

“I take the position that their experiences in life, issues of poverty, maltreatment, self-denial and self-demeaning, and all of those things which we have in our society are important issues which we have to tackle from the perspective of knowledge, self-awareness, awareness of the country and the culture and the history and what challenges we have in the environment on a daily basis,” the home affairs minister stated.

The government’s Fresh Start initiative which provides occupational training to inmates has kickstarted the administration’s multifaceted approach to prison reform.

And because of the programme’s beneficial nature, the government wants it to expand.

Correctional programmes for juveniles have also made tremendous achievements.

According to Minister Benn, several teenagers in correctional facilities have passed Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

“We come to the point where we have to do the job to make a better society and make better people, and to make sure that the next generation of diamonds or children are better than we are. And if we cannot make the next generation Guyanese better than we are, we going to fail,” he said.

The government plans to broaden its “Do the Right Thing” campaign to influence citizens and impressionable youth to focus on self-improvement and steer away from crime.