GPS promotes family reconciliation with Easter kite distribution

The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) has launched an initiative to promote family reconciliation by distributing kites to inmates for their children to enjoy this Easter. The kites have been handmade by inmates who have taken part in the carpentry and arts and craft programmes currently running in all prisons.

Welfare Officers at each location encouraged inmates to invite their relatives and children to receive the kites, as well as to spend some quality time bonding together.

The GPS said it hopes to remind families that despite the absence of their incarcerated loved ones, they can still play an active role in their children's lives, especially during holiday periods.

They added that the GPS is committed to helping inmates become better partners, parents, and citizens upon their release.

Director of Prisons, Nicklon Elliot believes that the kite distribution exercise, a longstanding Easter tradition, will help to foster family acceptance upon the inmates' eventual release.

Meanwhile, Officer in Charge of Prisoners’ Welfare and Corrections, Marielle Bristol-Grant hopes that this initiative will create positive memories for children to cherish with their parents despite the difficult circumstances.

This initiative represents a significant step forward for the GPS in its efforts to promote family reconciliation and empower inmates to become better citizens. more than $10 billion in the plant and equipment, rehabilitated cane fields at all factory locations, and fostered private-sector partnerships to increase land under cultivation in the sugar industry.

This is not the first time the GPS has had such an exercise. In June last year, children of prisoners were given a rare opportunity to see their fathers through the GPS “Father’s Day Bonding Visits” initiative.

The children along with other family members were privileged to have a meal with their loved ones and shared some time with them, a privilege that the inmates were hoping to receive.

According to the Prison Service, Father’s Day produces a complicated mix of emotions for the fathers who are imprisoned and they wanted to give them, the prisoners, an opportunity to spend time with their families.

Autopsy confirms Russel St granny died from blunt trauma to head – grandson for court on Monday

An autopsy performed on the body of 88-year-old Patricia “Patsy” Bovell, who was found among a heap of garbage wrapped in a sheet, revealed that she died from blunt trauma to the head.

Days after the gruesome discovery, the grandson, Yannick Gilpin, confessed that he wrapped his grandmother’s body in a bedsheet and disposed of it in a pile of garbage across from her home. Gilpin claimed that the elderly woman’s death was an accident.

According to Gilpin’s confession, his grandmother often accused him of stealing her personal things, and despite making complaints to other relatives, they told him to leave her alone due to her age. On the morning of Sunday, March 19, at around 04:00h, Gilpin heard a sound emanating from the upper flat of their shared Russel Street, Georgetown home.

As he went to enquire, he heard his grandmother screaming “Murder!” and “Thief!”. However, after checking around, he did not see or hear anything unusual.

Gilpin explained that his left foot accidentally struck his grandmother in the head as he was leaving the upper flat, causing her to fall onto a rug on the floor and sustain injuries. He pan- icked, wrapped her body in a sheet, took it down the stairway, and placed it on an old fridge. Later that evening, he dumped her body next door.

After Gilpin’s arrest, Police officials confirmed that they received legal advice on Friday to charge him with murder. They also believe that Gilpin is responsible for striking Bovell’s head. Her decomposed body was discovered by her niece on March 22, several days after Gilpin claimed he had taken her to the hospital. Hospital records revealed that Bovell had never been there. Bovell lived alone in the upper flat of her home, which she shared with Gilpin. She has one daughter who resides overseas. Gilpin is expected to make his court appearance on Monday.