By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
FISH TOWN, RIVER GEE, Liberia- The leading prisons rights group in Liberia headed by Rev. Francis Kollie and other international human rights reports have repeatedly alarmed over the deplorable stat of the country’s prisons, including the Monrovia Central Prison.
In the southeastern River Gee County, the main prison facility located in in the county’s capital, Fishtown is in a complete mess, with main entrance gate serving as escap route for prisoners.
The sanitary condition inside the facility is poor, while inmates are barely surviving. Life at the prison facility is extremely difficult for not only for inmates but also Correction officers.
Rain pour down on inmates, as the facility is a mud structure using tatch, only useful during dry season, a proof of this can be seen from the Correction officers’ visitors attendance book which has got wet.
The prison fence is so low that even a 5-year-old child jump over and escape.
At the back of the second prison within the fence, the concrete wall collapsed some time ago, and correction officers temporarily use plastic zinc to close the area.
The Justice Ministry is yet to address conditions at this facility.
Prison officials said they have written the Ministry of Justice on many occasions.
Correction officers at the prison facility have meanwhile constructed a three-bedroom structure made of dirt bricks on their own initiative.
According to reports gathered, in 2015, the then County Attorney for River Gee, Cllr. Wesseh A. Wesseh used his own money to carry out welding on the same falling apart gate at the main entrance of the prison.
It was also observed that the Fish Town prison facility lacks basic equipment such as handcuff, something that endangers their lives.
In another development, County Attorneys outside the nation’s capital, Monrovia lack basic logistics, including vehicles.
The County Attorneys are prosecuting cases and at the same time they are seen walking in the street which put their lives in danger.
Many of them, who want to remain anonymous, said whenever they are sent in the county by Ministry of Justice, no resettlement can be given to them to sustain themselves. This usually leads them not to keep at their assigned locations, but rather they live with their families in Monrovia and other areas.
The picture of Fish Town prison is similar to other prison facilities across Liberia. The plight of both inmates and Correction officers need to be urgently addressed by the Ministry of Justice and government.
Some of them say the condition is increasingly becoming “unbearable” for inmates, Correction Officers as well as State Prosecutors, some of whom lives are said to be at risk from perpetrators of crimes.