By Mark N. Mengonfia-mmenginfia@gmail.com
The Superintendent of the Monrovia Central Prison, Varney Lake has said the over crowdedness of the South Beach Prison facility amounts to “human rights violation”.
“This prison was built for 375 persons but today, we have 1,176 persons occupying it. The place is overcrowded,” Mr. Lake said.
According to the head of the Central prison which is in the heart of the Liberian capital, the area is overloaded because of slow adjudication of cases by the court. Pretrial detainees are in large numbers.
Article 10 of the United Nations human rights convention (ICCPR), “[a]ll persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” It also requires that “the reform and social readaptation of prisoners” be an “essential aim” of imprisonment.
One report by rights group says this prison, which “was designed to hold 374 inmates but as at June 2016 the total number of inmates was 1035 as compared to 1,012 in 2015 and 839 in July 2011.”
The Monrovia Central Prison Superintendent wants the courts to hear cases of minor offenses in time, so as to help in de-congestion of the facility.
Mr. Lake was speaking recently when the Order of the Eastern Star of Liberia Grand Chapter Charity visited the Monrovia Central Prison with assorted materials for female inmates.
According to a report by Liberia’s Independent National Human Rights Commission (INHRC): “The Government of Liberia has the moral responsibility to reform the system and act in a way that protects, respects, and upholds the human rights of prisoners. It is expedient for the Government to create conditions that will keep the prisoners both physically and mentally alive, and give them a chance to be rehabilitated and restored for successful reintegration into the society. Chapter 3 of Article 21(f) of the Liberian Constitution & the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for an accused person’s right to a speedy trial which is a human right guaranteed to all persons and consistent with human rights instruments to which Liberia is a signatory. Though isolated, inhuman conditions as highlighted above, could amount to torture which stands in violation of international human rights standards, including the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of accused persons.”
The Monrovia Central Prison Superintendent said Liberians are often only concerned about incarceration of an individual but fall short of ensuring that their cases are heard.
“They only want to hear that the person is in prison, how the person eats or other things does not concern them,” prison Superintendent Lake added.
Presenting the assorted items to the prison authorities was Wty.Sis. D.Sheba Brown, General Grand Matron of the Order of Eastern Star of Liberia.
Speaking when the items were presented, Sis. Brown said “each year we reach out to identify with people in needs.
She said that the Order of the Eastern Star of Liberia Grand Chapter Charity saw the need to identify with the female inmates at the MPC.
Sister Brown indicated that they were only focused on the female inmates because of their many needs as women.
Some of the items presented include dozens of towers, toothpaste, soaps, buckets, clorox , matches, among other things.
Receiving items, the Deputy Superintendent of the MonCP, thanked the institution foe their kind gesture and promised that the items are going to be used the inmates.