Guyana Prison Service tests electronic ankle bracelets to strengthen inmate monitoring

The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) has begun testing electronic ankle bracelets as part of a broader push to modernise inmate supervision and enhance rehabilitation efforts across the system.

Director of Prisons Nicklon Elliot said the new technology could significantly improve how officers track inmates who participate in skills training, work programmes, and reintegration activities both inside and outside correctional facilities.

“By utilising advanced technology, these devices will allow prison officers to know the exact location of an inmate and alert them quickly if they are outside the authorised zone,” Elliot said. The tamper-resistant devices operate through radio frequency signals linked to a central monitoring station and must remain on at all times.

Elliot added that discussions are ongoing with the Minister of Home Affairs to potentially expand the initiative to other priority programmes aimed at strengthening inmate rehabilitation and community safety.

The ankle bracelet pilot comes alongside a suite of security upgrades planned for the prison system. State-of-the-art walk-through body and bag scanners will soon be installed to curb attempts to smuggle weapons and drugs into correctional facilities. Smuggling is known to occur through construction projects, complicit officers, items tossed over prison fences, and visitors concealing prohibited goods.

To bolster oversight, the GPS will also introduce body cameras and deploy AI-powered surveillance technology, supported by a central command centre monitoring operations in real time. Searches will be intensified across multiple levels, and the prison service will continue to work with the police, CANU, and other intelligence agencies to reduce contraband and improve overall security.