Government seeking funds for rebuilding and expansion projects at prisons

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jul 29, CMC  – The Government will be taking a GUY$2.5 billion supplementary financial paper to  Parliament next week, with the intention of using $756 million of that amount for capital projects at two of the country’s prisons.
The financial paper was presented to the National Assembly on Thursday but will be debated at the next sitting which is scheduled for August 3.
The entity requesting the money is the Ministry of Public Security which provided a break-down of how the money will be spent.
According to that Ministry, funds are needed for the construction of temporary holding facilities at Lusignan Prison holding compound; to clean up the site at the Camp Street Prison; for the refurbishment of the dormitories at the Georgetown Prisons and a security system at that prison among other things.
The request following the devastating fire at the Georgetown Prison earlier this month during a jail break .
That fire demolished all of the wooden buildings in the compound, which accounted for more than 70 percent of the facility.
Prisoners were then taken to a holding facility next to the Lusignan Prison.
However, due to the compound not being equipped with the necessary infrastructure, government was forced to develop a temporary holding area for some of the inmates, while transferring the majority to other prisons around the country.