Modernize, Collaborate, and Lead with Courage: Guyana Prison Service 2026 Senior Officers’ Conference
__________________________________________________________
Georgetown, Guyana - A call for bolder leadership, smarter collaboration, and more humane practice set the tone at the Guyana Prison Service 2026 Senior Officers’ Conference, where corrections leaders from across the region gathered under the theme, “Fostering Growth, Driving Synergy, and Securing the Future of Corrections.”
Delivering the keynote, Ms. Wynnie Testamark, Director of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections, brought greetings on behalf of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) leadership and the ICPA North American and Caribbean community, praising the conference as “a moment of leadership” for the region’s future.
Testamark positioned modern corrections as a profession defined not only by security, but by the quality of leadership that guides institutions through complex change. “Across the world, corrections is evolving,” she told senior officers. “Our institutions are no longer defined solely by walls, gates, and security protocols. Today, they are measured by leadership, innovation… and the capacity to transform lives while safeguarding our societies.”
At the heart of her message was a direct challenge to the room: leadership is not an abstract ideal, but a daily responsibility that shapes culture and outcomes. “You are not only managers of institutions,” she said. “You are architects of transformation.”
Throughout the address, Testamark linked the conference theme to practical priorities for agencies facing the same pressures worldwide: staff development, institutional safety, rehabilitation, reintegration, and public confidence.
She emphasized that raising standards is foundational to legitimacy and performance. “To elevate correctional standards nationally and regionally is to affirm that excellence is not optional. It is essential,” she said, adding that professionalism and integrity are key to building trust.
She also pressed the importance of partnerships beyond corrections, noting that durable results depend on coordination with law enforcement, courts, social services, and community organizations. “Corrections does not operate alone,” she said, framing collaboration as an operational necessity, not a talking point.
And she underscored the long view: succession planning and leadership development as the “investment in tomorrow’s leadership” that determines whether progress endures.
In a closing moment that grounded strategy in human impact, Testamark shared a brief story of a correctional officer who asked a quiet young person in custody a question few had asked: “What do you want your life to look like when you leave here?”
The response, “No one has ever asked me that before”, became the turning point. Encouraged to enter education and skills training, the young man later built a trade, left with purpose, and eventually wrote back after starting a business and mentoring youth in the community.
“Thank you for seeing something in me that I could not yet see in myself,” the letter read.
Testamark described the lesson plainly: “That is the quiet power of corrections. Not only the security we maintain, but the opportunity we create for change. And that is why leadership matters.”
In a keynote built on respect for the work and a clear-eyed view of the challenges ahead, her message to senior officers was simple and urgent: the future of corrections will be secured “not by buildings alone,” but by leaders willing to learn, innovate, collaborate, and act with integrity.
ICPA North American Chapter
The address and accompanying chapter update also highlighted the work of ICPA North American (ICPA-NA), Chapter of ICPA. The chapter’s core aims include advancing ICPA’s values across the region, expanding membership, strengthening networks with partner organizations, and “most importantly” building opportunities for corrections leadership in the region to learn from one another and from international developments.
For 2025–26, ICPA-NA identified several priority areas:
-
Broader representation by recruiting additional board members from Canada and the Caribbean.
-
Strategic alignment by establishing priorities for the chapter in line with the ICPA Strategic Plan.
-
A multi-part webinar series on Women in Corrections, featuring:
-
An initiative in the South Dakota Department of Corrections supporting mothers and newborns through specialized housing after birth.
-
A program in New York supporting women working in corrections, including participation from the Hudson Valley Women in Corrections community.
-
-
Continued participation in ACA committees to keep regional concerns represented and reinforce the chapter’s work advancing professional and humane corrections.
-
Replicating a Leaders Roundtable, building on the roundtable held during the Orlando Conference in 2022, to sustain executive leadership dialogue and shared learning.
The chapter continues to meet twice annually alongside American Correctional Association (ACA) conferences and remains active in ACA committees, including international relations efforts. The chapter also noted increasing participation by North American members in ICPA Annual Conferences and strong involvement in ICPA-related events, including conferences in Bangkok, Belfast, Istanbul, and regional engagement with Caribbean heads of corrections.
Testamark closed by inviting regional leaders to deepen global exchange through the ICPA Annual Conference 2026, scheduled for October 23–30, 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, positioning it as another venue for practical collaboration across borders.