Conditions of prisons and detention centers across Liberia are said to be poor, with a number of inmates said to be in poor health and cramped in overcrowded cells, a premier prisoner watchdog group, Prison Fellowship Liberia has said.
Rev. Francis Kollie, Executive Director of the group told www.newspublictrust.com on Monday that the Unity Party-led government has over the years violated the rights of inmates by not giving them the due process of justice, causing over crowdedness.
Kollie claimed that because of the over crowdedness of the prisons, some of the inmates are developing diseases and may likely die.
Eighty five percent of the 3,000 people detained throughout the country are pre-trial detainees, he said.
According to the rights group, although the Monrovia Central Prison was constructed for just 300 inmates, it is currently hosting about 1,200 “with most of them detained under appalling conditions.”
Liberian authorities have in the past acknowledged that prison conditions were not satisfactory and overcrowded but said some efforts were being made to improve conditions at prisons and detention centers.
Poor conditions of prisons in the country have featured in recent US State Department reports on Liberia.
“Prison conditions were harsh and at times life threatening due to overcrowding, food shortages, lack of sanitary facilities, and inadequate medical care,” said the 2016 US human rights report.The report added:
“Physical Conditions: Inadequate space, bedding and mosquito netting, food, sanitation, ventilation, cooling, lighting, basic and emergency medical care, and potable water contributed to harsh and sometimes life-threatening conditions in the country’s 16 prisons and detention centers. Prison officials misappropriated food and other items intended for inmates. Many prisoners supplemented their meals by purchasing food at the prison or receiving food from visitors.”
Meanwhile, the Prison Fellowship Liberia has called on the in-coming government of President-elect, George Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to address the issue of over crowdedness in prisons throughout the country.
Kollie said as a grass root party coming in to government for the first time, the CDC should all it can in order to improve Liberia’s human rights records.
He recommended that the Bureau of Correction at the Ministry of Justice should be made autonomous and those with the rightful knowledge employed to manage these prison facilities
The prisoner rights group has petitioned the Independent National Commission on Human Rights of Liberia to intervene in the human rights abuses that inmates in the country are reportedly being subjected to.
The group wants the rights commission to investigate the abuse of the rights of pre-trial detainees, some of whom have been behind bars from between six months to five or more years. Report by Augustine Octavius.