Mental, Neurological, and Substance Abuse Disorders in Guyana's Jails, 1825-2022

The objective of MNS Disorders in Guyana's Jails, 1825 to the Present Day was to develop a historicized analytical approach that addresses a critical but almost entirely neglected aspect of prison systems in the Global South: the definition, extent, experience, and treatment of MNS disorders among inmates and the people who work with them. The project consolidates a previous collaboration between Clare Anderson (University of Leicester), Mellissa Ifill (University of Guyana), and the Guyana Prison Service (https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/projects/uk-international-challenges-17-history-and-security-sector-reform-crime-and-punishment-british-colonial-guyana/), and develops new relationships between the University of Leicester, the Ministry of Public Health (Mental Health Department), Guyana-based NGOs, and HMP Leicester. The project's perspective is historical, social and cultural. It covers the period from 1825, when the British opened the colony's first jail in Georgetown, to the present day (project concluded July 2022) following Guyana's independence in 1966.This project will research a critical but entirely neglected aspect of the prison system in Guyana, which certainly contributes to violence and instability: the definition, extent, experience and treatment of MNS disorders among inmates and the people who work with them. A UK-Guyana team will co-create new academic perspectives from Economic and Social History and Criminology, and use them to produce policy-relevant materials on mental health, cognitive impairment, addiction and substance abuse among prisoners and prison officers. The research will be shared with the project's partner, the Guyana Prison Service, which has an appetite for change and is seeking to effect transformations in prisoner well-being, health and education, during a time of unprecedented penal crisis. The project will not only model a new interdisciplinary way of working in this field, it will impact on prisoner and officer well-being and education, and on the rehabilitation of inmates. The project's perspective is historical, social and cultural. It covers the period from 1825, when the British opened the colony's first jail in Georgetown, to the present day, following Guyana's independence in 1966. It is rooted in the hypothesis that the existence of MNS disorders in jails today can be traced back to the British colonial period, and that they cannot be disconnected from the country's history as a sugar colony that employed and controlled indigenous people (Amerindians), enslaved Africans and indentured Indian labourers. Empire created particular forms of trauma, shaped demography and religious practice, and instituted patterns of population control including through institutionalisation. We seek to render this history actively part of the process of change, by connecting new historical work to new criminological research on Guyana since independence. We are especially interested in assessing and evaluating different definitions and management regimes for people afflicted with MNS disorders in Guyana's jails, among the colony/ country's multi-ethnic and multi-religious population of indigenous, African and Asian descent, and including women and juveniles. Guyana has serious resource constraints; in terms of GDP it is the second poorest country (after Haiti) in the southern hemisphere. Following the destruction of the country's largest jail during a prison riot in 2017, the challenges facing Guyana's prison system are unparalleled in the Caribbean region. This project is urgent and timely. The research team will conduct research on colonial-era and post-1966 archives and records, and conduct focus groups, workshop and interviews with prison personnel, communities living near prisons, and prisoners' families. The project seeks to enhance academic, practitioner and public understanding of MNS disorders in the jails context; build robust relationships between academics, practitioners and policy makers; and stimulate behavioural change among key actors. Its impacts will be to enhance prison security, improve the administration of criminal justice, and respect prisoner well-being, rights and equality, whilst protecting the public from people deemed 'dangerous'.